Universitybent
by Delightfully-Demented-Duo
Summary: PLEASE VISIT THE REVISION FOR THE NEW VERSION OF THIS STORY. THANK YOU.
1. Arrival

Hello, the wonderful world of Fanfiction ~! You guys may call me Eren / Ere, and I will be playing Karkat, as well as some random others including Sollux and Aradia (keeping in character is important, but I am horrible at them, so please forgive me), in this little fan fiction I have created with my partner in crime, Aussie, who will be putting up Gamzee's point of view. For the most part, due to adult themes, this will be labeled M for swearing, violence, and lots of other things, just for you 3

This is also set up a bit differently from most stories, as it was played out more in roleplay format than story format, due to there being two creating parties. Overall, the chapters will switch between Karkat and Gamzee, though at times they will be mixed when it is needed.

We are also having some issues with certain text-characters not showing up at the moment, the chapters will be resubmitted once this is fixed. Thanks for understanding~

EDIT

Apparently this wasn't obvious to some people so now I am inclined to point it out. This is an AU (alternate reality) meaning lots of things have been changed, the game never took place, and this story is set in a world where humans and trolls both exist simultaneously on earth. Deal.

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><p><em>He turned around, and found his path blocked, and for a moment, he merely stood there, staring in disbelief. Impossible, it had been there just a second ago! Bright red eyes widened, the pupils of them shrinking down in fear. No, it had to still be here, his mind was just playing tricks on him, it always did.<em>

_He backed up a few steps, and ran towards the wall, slamming his shoulder into it with all the strength he had, but of course it didn't give any sort of way at all. In fact, it moved towards him, snaking forward, pushing him towards the way he had just come from, the way he had to escape from._

_He could hear it now, the laughing behind him, not that far away. Fuck no; he wasn't going to let it catch him again. Please, not again, not again, not again. He screamed wordlessly, beating on the wall, pushing against it in vain._

_And then, silence._

_Pure, sanity restoring silence._

_He froze, slowly turning around as he shook, every muscle in his body, ever nerve and every single cell, begging for him to continue his frantic struggles, his fingers twitching with the urge to continue beating on the stubborn wall. A massive blackness stood there, just inches from him, forcing him to push up against the wall as a shriek died in his throat. Faces began to form in the blackness, a massive orgy of faces, in pain, or rage, from their mouths and from their empty eye sockets flowing a rainbow menagerie of colors. The mouths opened wider, hands that were distorted and twisted reaching out from between all those teeth, hands reaching for him, tearing at him._

The bus came to a sudden stop, causing Karkat to lurch forward a little in his seat, his forehead bouncing off the glass of the window, and forcing him awake just seconds before that horrible creature in his dreams got him. His lungs hurt, and he immediately caught himself and straightened back up into his seat, grumbling under his breath as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling uncomfortably warm.

He felt the WCD in his pocket vibrating, and pulled it out, flipping the small machine open as a single, teal colored message played itself out across the tiny screen.

GC: JUST TRY 4ND G3T SOM3 SL33P OK?

Dulled eyes stared down at the phone in his hands, before a scowl crossed his face and he shoved it back into his pocket. Sleep, what a fucking joke. Terezi knew damn well he had given up attempting to find any kind of peaceful sleep a few sweeps ago. She didn't have any business in his personal life anyways, not anymore.

He turned those fogged, colorless eyes back towards the window, glaring out it, but not really seeing much of anything. Oh how the sweeps had treated him. He wasn't quite as short as he had been when he was younger, granted that wasn't saying much. He was still on the short side, measuring at a mere Five foot five inches, sometimes Five Foot Six Inches on a good day, the few he had. The darkness around his eyes that all trolls had was more pronounced in him, darker, blacker, almost making his eyes seem as though they were surrounded by a ring of black. His eyes, which should have taken on the red hue of his blood color by this age, remained just as black and dull as ever, maybe even more lifeless than before. But this was with the help of contacts, itchy, uncomfortable human creations that he had been forced to procure. They burned his eyes, and made it a little harder to see, but it was worth it, to keep the true color of what ran through his veins a secret. His hair had grown out a little, but not much, it was still a spiky, messy rat's nest that stuck up at the oddest angles. He was thin and scrawny beneath those baggy clothes he wore, a black shirt with a dark brown jacket, and some simple, loose fitting jeans held up by a belt.

But despite his somewhat ill looking frame, when the bus came to a stop at a certain street intersection, he easily hoisted the two heavy bags in his seat to his side, and proceeded to exit the stinking, filth infested transportation unit. Down the street, and to the right, and then, before him, he saw what he was looking for.

In front of him stood a massive pair of gates, silver and gold painted across the most-likely-iron bars in order to make their intricate curves and swirls even more brilliant to look at, but it was just a stupid, jumbled mess to him. His eyes flickered to the left of the gate, seeing a wide sign planted in bright green grass that stood between the walls of the university and the sidewalk just barely five feet from them.

"Skaia Univserity " he read slowly to himself, blinking before turning his attention back towards the gates, which were swung partially open, and slipped inside.

Better get his shit situated and all that stupid nonsense. The blank look receded from his face, replaced by the perpetual scowl that usually resided there instead. He ignored all the others in the front yard of the university, humans and trolls alike, how disgusting. And to think, it was one of the few places he could get into. Honestly he was surprised he could get into this place at all. But it wasn't time to get into that, not time to go over all the stupid little reasons as to why he was attending a university that accepted both humans and trolls, rather than separating them like most did, and with good reason.

He went in through the main doors, angry eyes searching for signs that might lead him to wherever the fuck the dorms were. But there was nothing, just a lot of numbers that were currently meaningless as fuck to him. He closed his eyes in irritation for a moment, and then turned left, and headed into the office there, which was, thankfully, perfectly fucking marked with a big ass sign near the giant glass door.

He strode up to the desk, digging into his pockets for a second as the woman on the other side, a human, stared at him with a somewhat displeased look. She probably gave all the trolls that same look. He returned with a snarl as he slapped down his registration finalization onto the wooden barrier. She grabbed it, and took an awfully long time looking at it before she began to dig through her files.

"Karkat Vantas, located in Building 205, room seven, here is your room key. Building 205 is located down the west side of the street just outside the University" She spat at him, dropping an envelope on the wooden counter as if afraid that handing it to him would somehow result in contact. He didn't bother responding, merely grabbed the envelope, fished out his keys, turned and left.

It didn't take long to make his way, relatively unnoticed, towards the gates once more, ignored by troll and human alike. He turned in the direction indicated, and quickly located that stupidly located dorm building, before stalking inside the front doors, using the building key to get in as it was constantly locked. This was to prevent would-be burglars from stealing campus or student property. The room keys apparently automatically came with the building key, as he had found both on the same, small chain inside the envelope.

Good thing his room was on the first floor, he located it relatively easily, and then dropped his bags down on the floor in front of the door, momentarily forgetting which key was which, and began to toy with the lock to his room, attempting to get it open.


	2. For the first time in years

**Aussie B. Lemming**

Greetings, Salutations, and what-the-fuck-ever readers! Welcome to the fan-based co-op story between myself and Eren! I am one of the Delightfully-Demented-Duo, Aussie B. Lemming, but feel free to call me Aussie or Lem. : ) Before-hand, I would like to thank you for joining us during this little trip into our self-amusement and madness. I would like to help emphasize what Ere said about the rating. -Cough-M-Endcough- AND, underline and circle our username, juuuust for emphasis. In this story thing, I will primarily be role playing the beloved young subjuggulator, Gamzee Makara. So fun times and pie for all. : ) If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask! BUT, expect the answers to sometimes be a bit vague. Don't want to give away the story now, do we. ;3

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><p>They often told him multiple times what a completely idiotic idea it had been. The thing was a death trap, dangerous to average troll and human kind on good days. He was different, though in the opinion of his small group of friends, that made it worse. And in the words of one particularly dark-violet blooded individual, "Nah, do it. It'll make death easier ta find ya wit t'e giant sign sayin' 'Come fuck my slime DRIPPED SKULL WIT YER SCYTHE!" Ah, you just had to love the support of friends. Though he knew what they had been saying, and understood their concerns but it was just something that had not been negotiable. After all, he had already bought the damned thing. Everyone had considered it a blessing that after a full sweep, he had not had a single accident. Whenever they would inquire, usually sarcastically, how he had not wrecked yet. He always had only one thing to say.<p>

Miracles.

Even now, he sat on the purring, perfectly in-tact mechanical beast as it rumbled at a comfortable idle beneath him. Waiting patiently for the bossy red light to nap and release the green giver from its temporary rest. It growled a few times in earnest, as long fingers twisted at its handles, urging it to stay focused. Around them, integrated pedestrians of troll and human spared occasional glances, the cars behind him and to his left impatient to get moving. Then finally, the color changed, and the lean motorcycle snarled to life, front wheel lifting inches from the ground in its haste, before dropping carefully back to the pavement. The driver hugged close to the two-wheeled vehicle, leaning with the cage-less device as he swerved between cars. One knee nearly touched the pavement as a sharp left turn was taken, voice filtering with laughter at the annoyed honks of irritated automobiles. One last swerve, the wheels straightening, and then there was brief open road, then there was freedom.

The wind clung in jealousy to the flimsy hoodie he wore, the unzipped coat whipping violently as those streams of air tried to hold on to him. Faster he went, the city's colors blurring into blobs of earth tones and sunlight, until he nearly missed his turn, the eager hum of the motor quickly dying as gravity and a slight application of brakes, allowed the world around him to come back into focus in time to make another turn.

Then, it had appeared before him. It was somewhat intimidating really, the large, well-kept buildings, evenly cut grass, and fancily decorated gates. The protective line of brick and fence that corralled the small realm of education, was built high, adding in to the whole awe factor. Along with the large bold letters that proudly stated, 'Skaia University'.

The driver, a troll with tall twisting horns that pointed proudly towards the sky, slowed his motorcycle to a crawl as he turned towards the campus parking lot, hopping up on an empty space of side-walk momentarily to dodge a slow puffing car, before slipping back onto the road. He passed between building, around pedestrians, until arriving to the parking lot. A narrow parking spot was claimed, a kick stand was kicked, and the vehicle put to sleep. The helmet-less rider stood, giving a small stretch, before pocketing his keys and walking as casually across the school grounds as if he had been there all of his sweeps. Though his searching indigo framed eyes gazing from one side to another at blurry shaped building numbers and names would have been a subtle give-a-way to his lack of presence here. Not to mention that after only two minutes he stopped a passing female human who had been rather occupied with her phone, and asked, "Hey bitchtits, where's the motherfuckin' signing in counter?" ... He found the main desk, but was nursing a heated cheek from the violent slap the human had given him. The troll occasionally forgot how sensitive to be called certain things humans could be.

Speaking of which, another female human sat silently behind her self-important desk, clicking lazily at her computer screen as she seemed to be skimming through a list of sorts. The indigo iris male was understandably cautious as he stepped silently forward at first, hands fumbling in coat pockets for the wrinkled envelope, until he came to an awkward stand before her And was promptly ignored. They stayed like this, in that uneasy silence, before carefully the troll tried to lean from one side to the other, attempting to get her attention. He even did a small wave, which resulted in zero response. His face twisted up in silent confusion for a moment, before he placed the envelope on the marble surface, braced his hands there, and leaned over the counter precariously on his abdomen, before, "Pst, desk human."

The woman turned and quite frankly, nearly flipped the fuck out at the troll with the clown painted face mere inches from her own. A small squeak escaped from her lips as she jerked violently backwards, and stared aghast with eyes as big as an owls. The troll simply smiled in triumph at finally getting her attention, before hopping off the counter and waving his wrinkled note towards her, "I'm here to fuckin' get checked in and keyed up, this the place for such happenings?" The human's shock, soon turned to barely contained rage as she snatched his note from him without a word, and silently tore open the paper. Rather quickly, her eyes darted over the page, before she dug through the envelopes on her desk, "Gamzee Makara, you will be in building 205, room 8. Building 205 is just outside the campus on the west side." And then she slammed one manila envelope containing his room keys and other university information on the counter, and hastily turned away.

Unaffected, Gamzee flipped the parcel between his fingers, thanked her, and went to find his mentioned room.

Humming to himself, the Capricorn made his way, slow and steady in the general direction he was told to go. Those that saw him only spared a glance, though those that had known him in his youth may have been taken back. Gamzee had grown. The troll now towered over nearly everyone, standing at a solid six feet, two inches, and that wasn't including his horns. His too-thin limbs had filled out to contain deceptively lean muscle, shoulders broadening and over all body solidifying as a result of the fights trolls his age and cast frequently engaged in. That crazy twisting, curl of a jungle he called his hair, still weeded out in every direction, though had the appearance that it had actually been somewhat trimmed. How anyone managed such a feat though, would be considered a grave mystery. The boots he wore when riding his motorcycle, thumped heavily, if not slightly uneven, against the pavement. Though he had long since grown out of wearing polk-a-dot pants, there were still sings of his spiritual beliefs besides his face; decorated over the shirt beneath his hoodie, and the spotted bracelets on his arms. Little else had changed with the young Highblood physically.

Mentally however, was a whole other juggling act.

Ducking through the doors to 205 so that his horns would not slam into the top of the doorway, Gamzee maneuvered carefully through the halls, glancing up and down as he searched for the circular number written on the lightly held envelope. A quick glance at a clown-faced watch, warned him that he needed to hurry if he was going to meet some friends on time in front of the Math and Sciences building. But man, he was really starting to get the urge to just explore. There were so many things, so many places for beautiful little secrets to hide. A buzz from one pants pocket temporarily distracted him as he turned down a hall, flipping open the screen and holding back a smile at the message that glared back at him in dark-violet tint,

TR: IF YoU ForgeT TO MeeT US,, I SweaR I WilL LeT ValuS TesT HeR ShittY ''CureS'' ON YoU!

TC: DoN't wOrRy bRo, i gOt mY MeMoRy sTiLl tUnEd tO ThE MeEt uP. :o)

TR: YoU BetteR!

He just smiled at the quick response, passing door after door, even slipping by one rather short-sized individual in his search. Before, quite shortly after, those flickering eyes paused on the big black number nailed to a door, reflecting the symbol on his packet. That grin grew with satisfaction, the grease painted grin spreading the action even further, as he leaned against the door frame, lazily peeling open the packet, before a jingle caused his frayed attention to slip to one side towards his neighbor.

Hazed irises blinked at a shape that whispered familiarity into his mind. Though this shape was slightly different, and from this angle, it only somewhat resembled the image in his clouded memory. "You up and need some help best friend?" Gamzee froze, as the words that had fallen so easily from his lips caught up to him. At first, he had not realized he'd spoken, but the content of that short sentence caused the Capricorn's brows to wrinkle in shock. Wait Karkat? That was impossible.


	3. Breaking Doors

Whatever worm-fucked-retard-brain had come up with the idea to use a set of too similar looking fucking keys to get in and out of the apartment buildings on a daily basis, Karkat was already planning to murder them for this infuriating plot. Then again, that could easily just be the sleep deprivation (or contacts) fogging up his vision again, making the keys look like two very similar blobs of grey in the blurry outline of his fingers. He snarled, and then temporarily stopped fumbling with the keys like a butter-fingered moron to rub at his eyes, fuck these contacts were itchy. But the rubbing didn't give him any sort of leeway in the line of vision. Oh Goddammit.

He tried again, only to have the key slip through his cold fingers and fall onto the ground, he bit down on his bottom lip, fist clenching tightly for a second as he just stared down at it, like it was all the poor piece of metal's fault for jumping out of his hand at a desperate bid for freedom that didn't exist for inanimate objects.

"You up and need some help best friend?"

The response was instantaneous; a flash of pointed, sharp little teeth that clicked together angrily as a somewhat blank, but still managing to be angry, gaze threw itself towards the rather tall as shit fucking troll who seemed to occupy the room to his right. The troll's face blurred in his vision, but otherwise, he could care less.

"No I don't need any fucking help" He spat back in a sour tone, and backed up away from the door, pushing himself up against the opposite wall. He merely stood there, tense and glaring, before launching himself forward, quickly lifting up one, heavily booted foot, and slamming it straight into the door, right to the side of the knob and lock. The door flew open with a loud, wood breaking CRACK and rebounded off the inside wall, shuddering from the force of the kick.

Karkat kicked the keys inside, not giving a shit at all about them now, and grabbed both his bags as he charged inside.

Almost immediately, his poor phone was spammed. The small WCD buzzed angrily in his pocket, demanding his instant attention, and quickly received it. As he threw the first of the bags onto a random dresser and unzipped it, spilling out its contents of clothes and shitty movies onto the nice, clean sheets. He tore the phone from its bindings in his pocket, and flipped it open.

Sweet Jegus if it was fucking Terezi again he was going to start screaming. For someone who had stopped being his fucking matesprit around three sweeps ago, she sure did still seem pretty interested on pestering the shit out of him.

Hmm nope, the message board on the small device informed him that it was not the blind troll he had suspected, though it was indeed a blind troll of some sort.

TA: Hey kk TA: Y0u bastard d0n't ign0re me TA: Aww man, y0u didn't fall asleep did y0u?  
>TA: D0 I have t0 make y0ur ph0ne buzz y0u awake?<br>CG: HEY ASSHOLE MAYBE I WAS TRYING TO GET TO MY FUCKING DORM INSTEAD OF FUCKING AROUND ON MY PHONE CG: UNLIKE SOME PEOPLE

And with that retort, he flipped the phone shut again and tossed it onto the bed. Most likely the blind asshole was going to come by and 'make sure he was okay'. God he was sick of people always fucking worrying. Seriously, he could take care of himself just fucking fine; he didn't need to be watched over like a fucking lusus over a newly obtained wriggler.

He didn't spend much time in the room. On a normal day, he might have just sat in there for the rest of the day and not really cared. It was tempting already to curl up in the foreign recuperacoon that sat at the far side of the room. But sleep was far from his mind, even sopor slime failed to help most of the time, and besides, he would rather get to know his way around the university first, than sit in here and mope around like usual.

There was also the matter of Sollux coming over. Karkat knew he was going to this university too, but he must have ended up in a different building, or on a different floor. Terezi and Sollux, the only two he could even remember, and even on the bad days he had to do something to remind himself who they were. Everything else, everyone else, was just a formless sludge in the back of his mind that he didn't care to wade through.

CG: WHATEVER, I'LL JUST WAIT OUTSIDE THE FUCKING BUILDING

No point in fighting the inevitable. Sollux would force him out of this room, and had done so before in slightly different circumstances. Karkat just didn't feel like he was up to the kicking and screaming that would result when it would only end in him going around the campus anyway.

He left his things in a mess over the dresser, really not caring at the moment as he turned tail and headed back for the door, grabbing the keyring off the floor and shoving it into his jacket pocket as he exited the room, and glanced to his side to see the massive troll still standing there like a fucking moron.

"You haven't even gotten into your own fucking dorm yet and you thought you could help me?" He seethed towards the other troll, and then merely glared before turning aside, and heading down the hallway to meet up with Sollux towards the front. Ugh, just looking at that indigo eyed idiot down the hallway made his head hurt. With that crazy mass of hair and the stupid clothes and that stupid best friend thing

Why did that seem so terribly familiar? As he turned the corner, he squeezed his yellowed eyes shut, pinching the bridge of his nose. Great, now this was going to bother him all fucking day, as if he didn't have enough to deal with.


	4. Can't remember

He didn't know what response to expect, but that had certainly not been it. In fact, he found his mind going through a minor form of shock. He couldn't help but simply stare, watching in silence as the familiar male with the familiar retorts, backing up before performing a rather impressive power-kick against the number 7 door. The juggalo didn't even flinch at the loud noise, or the tearing crack as the flesh of the wood door frame was shredded. When the angry munchkin troll proceeded to stalk through his self-opened door, tossing his things into the room with a certain gusto, a single thought finally came across the male's temporarily comatose mind. _Yep, that's fuckin' Karkat_. Gamzee had never known anyone, human or troll, that could release such a steady aura of 'PISS OFF' at such high consistency. But something about the way he had looked at him felt off.

"You haven't even gotten into your own fucking dorm yet and you thought you could help me?"

The Capricorn produced a few empty blinks, his think pan left somewhere behind in zone world before he seemed to realize that he must have been standing there for a while. Because the Cancer had apparently been in his room a decent time and was already leaving... while he had not moved an inch. Gamzee had zoned. Yeah, it still happened, it never stopped being a thing. Just like his ingestion of sopor slime and copious amounts of faygo. But that sentence, the way he was completely dismissed, not even truly addressed, did click sense into his hazed mind as the shorter troll rounded a corner.

Karkat didn't remember him.

That, or he was pretending not to know him and completely ignore him. Both scenarios caused a violent twist in his gut, and the air to choke out of his lungs. Methodical hands turned silently to the envelope, tearing open the flimsy flap, and pulling out the keys. In that quiet he slipped one metal device into the lock, and turned the knob, getting his dorm room key on the first attempt. Then he slipped into his room, and closed the door. Light trickled in to the temporarily tidy room, his bags and luggage stacked neatly against one wall. Pre-delivered as he was one of those 'special' attendees of the university. Some humans may not hide their distaste for the troll race, but they wouldn't risk a political triad. They should feel privileged, as Valus would say in her condescending tone, to have such highblood nobility attending their meager university.

However, Gamzee's mind was not in his fairly new friends. No, it was on one particularly old one, the closest one. Pain mixed into rage, as a brief flash of the look Karkat gave came to his mind again. The way he had been regarded, was as if he the Cancer had been staring at a stranger. He closed his eyes to try and reason, but all that anger was boiling up inside of him, blocking up his think pan from processing clearly. It was overflowing, trickling into his veins, begging for release. Hands balled into fists, pointed claws digging into his palms. The only warning sign of that barely contained rage. Before he slowly turned, and the knuckles of one fist, met the wall. The following crack echoed in the bare room, as indigo blood trickled trickled from his fist.

Gamzee's uneven breathing slowed and calmed, as he gently pulled his blending appendage away from the cracked plaster of the vertical separating device. He could already feel the white hot rage that placed spots in his eyes and made his body feel numb, begin to ebb away. It was replaced by slight coherency, the ability to think clearly though the pain remained. Karkat had forgotten him. His moirail had forgotten him, or was pretending to forget him. Would it be ex-moirail now?

The Capricorn pulled his now injured hand to his peep holes, to observe the damage on the cracked flesh of his knuckles. Though he didn't see it, not really. All these sweeps things had changed. When Gamzee had reached maturity, he had cut off contact with his small group of friends. Well, what little contact there had been at that point. As they got older, they, all of them, had begun to talk to each other less and less. Each had their own goals in life, their own things they wanted to achieve or do. Gamzee had his issues to work out, issues that no one, not even his moirail, could have helped him out with. At least, that's what he had been told and told himself. He hadn't given them any warning, didn't say farewell because he had intended to speak to them again after everything had become stable. He couldn't remember why he didn't follow through with that intention.

A buzz from his pocket caught his attention, and while his mouth enclosed around his injured hand, lapping up the loose streams of indigo blood, his other dug into his pocket for the phone. Flipping it open, he skimmed over the message with a blank expression.

TR: YoU FuckinG ForgoT.. Didn'T YoU?

Oops.

TC: sorry bro im on my way  
>TR: ShiT<br>TR: YoU CooL?

Gamzee hesitated, brief confusion coming over only slightly hazed irises, as he re-read the text, and noticed with a small twitch of the lips that he hadn't used his favorite form of typing. Well, that told him where his mind was. Unfortunately it also told them where as well.

TC: LiKe a mOtHeRfUcKiN ReFrIgErAtIoN DeViCe :o)  
>TC: Do mE A FaVoR AnD HaVe TaNsIs mAkE Me a mIrAcLe dRiNk.<br>TC: FuCkEr mAkEs wIcKeD ElIxIrS TR: ThaT BaD HuH? FinE I''lL GeT ThE LittlE SteP LaddeR TO MakE YouR PoisoN DrinK,, BuT YoU ShoulD KnoW I Don''T AgreE WitH YoU DoinG ThaT ShiT!  
>TC: I KnOw, tHaNkS BrO.<br>TR: WhaT ThE FlyinG FucK EveR,, JusT GeT OveR HerE OR I''lL ComE AnD GeT YoU..

The phone slipped shut, and Gamzee took a few steps reverse until his back was against the wall. He breathed, much calmer now, as his phone was deposited back into his pocket. It buzzed a few more times, but he ignored it for now. Perhaps there was a reason for Karkat's strange behavior? Maybe it had simply been a case that since they hadn't seen each other in sweeps, he simply didn't recognize him? Another image flicked across his think pan, but this time, Gamzee's somewhat clear mind picked up on something. His eyes, they had been charcoal black. But that didn't make any sense, by now they would have

"Still hiding," he mumbled. Of course he would be. Older trolls, which was what they were now, weren't as tolerant for open blood spectrum interaction. And if they saw Karkat's mutant blood color Gamzee swallowed, before digging through his bags for the little box that had all his bandages and wraps for one of the troll's only classes at Skaia U. Gauze was applied, his knuckles were wrapped, and the dorm was exited. He would think about it later, whenever there was a rage numbing haze over his mind, and the threat of his friends hunting him down was diminished. Because the threat to come find him hadn't been hollow. They worried about him, but for different reasons others had before.


	5. Enter Sollux

"Karkat"

"Hey Karkat, you dumbass, wake up"

"What?"

Karkat opened his eyes, blinking a little and surprised to find himself standing uncomfortably close to another rather tall troll. His nose was literally inches from Sollux's chest, and he couldn't remember shit about being there. He stepped back quickly, looking around confused for a second.

"Dude, you fell asleep walking. You ran right into me and just stood there"

"oh fuck, really?"

"Yeah, like a fucking baby" Sollux answered, stepping back from the other troll as well after having watched the other just walk right into him like he hadn't even been seen. Okay, watched was really a far cry from being able to sense someone because you didn't have eyeballs to see them with. But the basic action was the same. "You really need to get some sleep. You sound even more terrible than last time"

Karkat growled at Sollux, looking away from the other troll as he stepped to the side of the door, and planted his ass firmly on the grass and sat there, arms crossed in an irritated manner. "Hell no. I am not going to curl up in my fucking 'coon just to get some sleep. Fuck that idea. I am not dealing with those goddamn nightmares again" He retorted angrily, nose wrinkling up in distaste. "That's like offering myself on a fucking platter to faces"

"Faces?" Sollux asked, raising an eyebrow, though it was a little hard to see with those clunky goggles obscuring a good measure of his face.

"Never mind. Nightmares and all that shit, horrorterrors" Karkat stated simply, pulling his knees up to his chest as images of his most recent dream, however short it had been, repeated in his mind's eye. At least that time had only been short. Whenever he actually did fall asleep for more than a few minutes at a time, they were much, much worse, and they just kept repeating, getting more horrible each time. Distorted and Demented. Always. He felt the thin, tiny point of fear, which felt like a slimy, ice cold knife, run up and down his back, and he refused to shiver, even though he wanted to. Fuck. He knew it was so stupid, being so scared of those nightmares, of those faces, but he couldn't help it.

"They can't really be that bad. Besides, whatever it is, it can't be any worse for you than what you're doing to yourself now. Maybe the reason they're so bad is because you're avoiding them so damn much. Aradia said you'd have to face them sooner or later"

"Who?"

"Never mind. The important thing is to stop being a damn wuss and go to sleep. God knows you need it" Sollux pointed out simply, getting straight down to the issue as fast as he could without Karkat dancing around it, which he did all the fucking time when they talked. But it was kinda stupid, Sollux would badger him, Karkat wouldn't sleep anyway, and then Sollux would feel like a shitty friend because he wasn't good at this stupid 'taking care of other people' bullshit. It was a good thing that his Moirail didn't really need to be comforted most of the time. Aradia took care of herself just fine. "Have you even eaten at all the last few days?"

"Didn't feel hungry" Karkat answered simply, sinking down a little bit deeper as he averted his dark eyed gaze towards the ground. It was true. Honestly it was amazing his body was in the shape it was in now with how horribly he treated it. He still looked like complete shit, but he should be looking a lot worse for someone who hadn't slept for more than two hours at a time in the past sweep, and tended to go for days without eating.

"Oh fuck, Karkat" Sollux spat back, his tone starting to get a little annoyed now. Honestly was this stupid, brain-dead troll trying to passively commit suicide? He began to fish around in his pockets, eventually pulling out something wrapped up in thick, white plastic. "Eat the damn sandwich" He ordered, shoving the food in the other troll's face. He had bought it earlier as a sort of breakfast, but it was all too true to say that Karkat needed it more than he did.

"N- . Okay fine" Karkat stated. At first he reeled from the food shoved in his face, but the second the scent drifted into his nostrils, his stomach argued with him and made such a forceful point in the form of shooting hunger pains running through his digestive system that he saw little option but to indulge it. He reached one hand up and ripped the sandwich from his friend's hand, unwrapping it carefully. Ugh, it was some gross human food. Most likely they didn't serve troll food here until lunch time or some stupid shit like that, but still, food was food. He had intended to at least show some measure of caution eating the damn thing, but before he knew it, he was digging into the food like a starving howl-beast.

"You're digging into that food like a total pig aren't you?"

"mo, ffuc 'ou" Karkat muttered back, but his mouth was full of food, and the sound of his own voice strained to get through the food that was packed into his cheeks. This gave a somewhat hilarious rendition of a chipmunk storing nuts in its cheeks for later eating. For human food, it actually wasn't that bad. Of course, that could easily be the hunger and not the generally not caring thing going on there.

Sollux just cracked the slightest hint of a smile, there; he was good for something at fucking least. But still, there was the matter of sleeping, but he figured it'd be stupid to try and pry into it anymore. Karkat would get mad and wander off somewhere. And if the mutant-blooded troll was falling asleep at random like this, even while walking, Sollux didn't really feel comfortable letting him walk around on his own. "What do you say we go check out the rooms? I don't think classes start till tomorrow but I'm not too sure, it'd be a good idea to check"

Karkat swallowed, his throat dry and agitated, feeling as though it were splitting apart as the food plopped down into his empty, hollow stomach. He took a breath and seemed to think about it for a moment, before standing up. "Yeah I guess so" he answered simply, the somewhat hollow note returning to his voice as he turned to leave; ironically enough, following the BLIND troll away from the dorms and towards the building.


	6. Rebuilding old ties

_Sollux is occupying Skaia too?_

He looked somewhat like a creeper, back pressed against the brick the wall just outside of the door to the dorms. Standing there, in the dark shadow released by the sun hitting the corner just right. Silent, expressionless.

"That's like offering myself on a fucking platter to faces."

"Faces?"

That's the part of the conversation Gamzee exited the building on. The somewhat familiar, but recognizably different voice of Karkat easily reaching his ear holes.

"Never mind. Nightmares and all that shit, horrorterrors."

"They can't really be that bad. Besides, whatever it is, it can't be any worse for you than what you're doing to yourself now. Maybe the reason they're so bad is because you're avoiding them so damn much. Aradia said you'd have to face them sooner or later."

"Who?"

"Never mind. The important thing is to stop being a damn wuss and go to sleep. God knows you need it. Have you even eaten at all the last few days?"

"Didn't feel hungry."

And at that point, Gamzee tuned out, trying to make sense of what he had heard. Karkat was having night terrors still? He knew that ever since they were young wrigglers, the Cancer had always had those nasty dreams. It caused him countless nights of unrest, and often served to make him even more testy than usual. And there was brief mention that he hadn't been eating either. That was fairly new. Nothing in Gamzee's memory every placed that Karkat had had an eating problem but then again, his think pan wasn't always the most reliable.

Wait.

Did he just say 'who' in regards to Aradia?

The Capricorn's brows wrinkled together in further confusion, trying to puzzle this together. So the red-blooded troll hadn't only forgotten about him, but Aradia to? Had he forgotten the others? He seemed to remember Sollux, if the fact he was talking to him meant anything. But the fact that his nightmares were increasing and he wasn't eating what the hell was going on with him? Gamzee stood and turned, his face twisted in determination as he made to step down the stairs.

Before an over-sized frisbee rocketed into the side of his face.

Gamzee stumbled, nearly falling. A violent tint overtook his eyes as he lashed around to face the distributor of the circular disc. Teeth gnashing as the last of the haze over his mind began to slip away. He focused just in time, to see that black disk returning to its master, and recognition fell from his lips as he snarled out, "What-The-FUCK JARREN!" Jarren, a medium sized troll with dark violet eyes, half his head shaved, and the other half long hair falling just past his shoulder, held a snarl on his lips of his own as his fingers snatched the frisbee from the air. His horns, started at the back of his skull, curved over his cranium, before twisting slightly upwards above his brows. He hesitated for a moment, at the look of rage in Gamzee's eyes. He could almost see the images going through those maddening indigo irises, could see his death reflected a hundred times over.

"Fuck G-zee, ya look awesome right now. Sure ya want tat shit? You could d- what 'n flyin' hatched wriggluhs are ya looking at?"

While Jarren was being somewhat of an ass, Gamzee's gaze had wandered to other things, to searching for Karkat and Sollux. He tried to find the familiar shape of either of them, but there was no sign or hint of their presence, not anymore. His hand came up to his cheek, the flesh there swelling slightly beneath the thick paint, feeling somewhat heated to the touch, as he turned back to face the accused.

"Hey, dun look at me like tat. Ah told ya ahd come an fuckin' get ya man. Not my fault if ya get pissy because ya haven't had yer daily dose o' poison slime tuhda-WOAH!" Gamzee, at that point, had stormed towards Jarren, clasped his hand around the collar of his shirt, and began to half-lead/half-drag the writhing fellow highblood across the school grounds, correcting his direction whenever the twisting troll snarled that he was going the wrong way. They attracted quite a few curious stares in their journey, Jarren finally attempting to bite at Gamzee's hand, before the Grand Highblood's descendant finally released his grip.

"Gamz! Jarren! About damn time. I was gonna go schoooom, all over the place in search of you silly boys." A female troll, her eyes rimmed in a slightly lighter color than Jarren's, danced over to them, her horns sticking out as two straight parallel points on either side of her head. Her hair was twisted up in a long pony tail that curved with each of her graceful movements, until she came to a stop in front of Gamzee, leaning forward and peering up at those uncharacteristically hard and distant eyes. "Woooow, been a while since I seen you like this Gamz." The Capricorn didn't reply.

"Just give him t'e damn drink T-sis, before he flips his shit an decides tuh paint tose creepy ass clowns in yer blood."

"Really? Cooool!"

"Ah know, but would ya fuckin' hurry it up!"

One drink later, and Gamzee was lying on the grass, empty glass balanced on his fore-head as he stared up at the lazy clouds drifting across the sky. To either side of him, Jarren and Tansis were arguing rather vehemently about something. He couldn't really hear them anymore. The slime slushy he had just indulged in had successfully doused the anger that had been bubbling inside of him at the events of the day thus far. That part of himself annoyed him, the side that got irritated and in a rage so easily. Maybe that's why Karkat had been able to calm him down, once upon a time. Maybe that's why he had once been his moirail.

Karkat, what was going on with his once best friend? What had happened to him throughout all of these sweeps? As he lay there, thinking about this and that, other trolls, other highblood's began to filter into the small group, until there were five total not including Gamzee himself. They chatted amongst themselves about multiple things, the Capricorn ignoring them. Most of the conversations were violent, though when a sixth troll joined them, they became leaned towards more civilized topics.

The sixth troll with her hair twisted into a knot, and bangs framing her light indigo eyes, sat next to Gamzee, humming as she delicately plucked the glass from his head without a word, smoothing the paint back into place on his face in silence. At the touch, the Capricorn's eyes turned to face her, not seeing the face of the circular horned female at first, until she flicked his nose with one extended fingernail to completely grab his attention.

There was a question in her eyes, as he saw that he wished to ask her something. She was curious, because Gamzee was never this silent after having his disgusting little addiction. He was usually spouting nonsense, off getting himself into trouble, or attempting to climb to the very top of the tallest tree. Or in that one case, the side of a building.

"Valus, can you do a motherfucker a favor?"

There was a small smile, as Valus gave a nod.

"Wire into the electrical web of Skaia and text me the number of a fucker that goes by the calling Sollux Captor."

"One of the lowbloods from your youth?" she finally spoke, a disapproving scowl framing those lips with the same amount of dignity she carried in her aura.

"Please Val, I gotta get some words on with him, tap the memory sky and listen to its sweet echos."

Valus hesitated briefly, before a rather troubled huff escaped her lips, as if she were about to spoil an already wealthy child, "Very well," and she stood, giving the Capricorn with the suddenly wide smile a brief pat on the head, before walking across the campus towards the main building.

Gamzee felt relief tickle over his throat as he suddenly launched himself into a sitting position, following the other highblood's path across the grounds with his eyes in earnest. Man, he needed some answers, and there was only one troll that he could think of that might have the information he sought.


	7. Frustration

"So what's your schedule look like?" Sollux asked, somehow managing to avoid running into anyone and look at his schedule at the same time. Though it was completely pointless. He may be able to sense people, but he couldn't read unless it was brail or he decided to take up Terezi's habit and lick things. He was not going to do that. That was just gross. And it always kinda creeped him out to be honest, but whatever. "Actually, when you're done with that, tell me what mine is too"

Karkat snarled at the mustard blooded troll, but rifled through his pockets nonetheless. He hadn't signed up for very many classes, honestly it was kinda a miracle he managed to sign up for any at all. "Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays I have Strife 101 starting at 12:00 pm. Monday and Wednesday I have Computer Science at 3:00 pm. Tuesday and Wednesday I have some technology class" He stated, and then reached forward and jerked Sollux's schedule from his hand. " a lot of classes that look really fucking confusing, I can't even read some of this shit"

"Oh never mind, that's probably all my requested classes. Hacking and computer stuff that you don't get-" This statement, of course, earned him a resounding 'fuck you' from the red blooded troll, "-I guess I'll have to figure it out later. It's probably set up so that I have to break some sort of code" Sollux stated, reaching out blindly and somehow managing to nab his own schedule back.

"That's stupid"

"You're stupid" Okay, this was just childish now.

"Whatever, if you can't read the fucking paper you can't break the damn code and you can't go to fucking class. That's stupid. Why would you even still want to work with shit you can't see?" Karkat demanded, shoving his schedule back into his bag. He had two more classes, actually, but not until later into the year. He had to really space them out to make up for his disability. If you could call sleep deprivation that.

"I don't know, just still seems right to me. Besides, I can still see the numbers in my head. Now stop bitching and let's scout out your classes. Otherwise you might fall asleep again and walk into the wrong one" Sollux stated in a somewhat teasing tone, a slight smirk touching his features.

"Excuse me for being a freak. Now I'll excuse you for being a condescending asshole" Karkat shot back, teeth snapping together angrily. "I guess we can head towards the computer labs first, I'm pretty sure they're off to the west section of the university grounds, not too sure though"

"Sounds like a plan to me" Sollux responded simply. Honestly, he was so used to the frequent insults that he hardly noticed them anymore. But it was still way too easy to fall into one of those childish arguments with Karkat. It brought his mind back to earlier days, lots of sweeps ago when the two of them had one that was so bad they both deleted it from their browsing history and never spoke of it again. It was kinda painful to think now that Karkat probably would have no idea what he was talking about if he brought it up. They may not have been the closest of friends when they were younger, but they had still been friends.

Sollux just followed along as Karkat seemed to be going over some sort of mentally created map in his head. The shorter troll had probably studied a map or something similar to that effect a few days ago to try and prepare for navigating himself around an unfamiliar place. Thinking about that now, it was pretty obvious to anyone with a brain that even Karkat knew he was going to have some issues getting around. Fuck, he already wandered around half asleep most of the damn time. They walked for a while, and eventually Sollux was aware of Karkat wandering a little bit away from him, speaking to someone, probably one of the professors, before he felt his phone start to buzz in his pocket.

He pulled it out, and carefully held the phone without looking at it, the electrical impulses tingling in his fingers, forming pictures in his mind, startling him by what he saw there.

At once, a scowl crossed his face. Thankfully Karkat seemed to be preoccupied speaking to the professor about his classes, so he brought his phone up and began to type back.

TA: After all this damn time you ch00se n0w t0 c0ntact me?  
>TC: bRo, tHaTs sOmE SeRiOuS HoStIlItY In tHoSe wOrDs.<br>TA: Well what did y0u expect?  
>TA: A warm welc0ming?<br>TC: WeLl, yOu gOt a pOiNt tHeRe. mAn, i dOn'T ReAlLy kNoW WhAt i wAs fUcKiNg eXpEcTiNg TC: LoOk cAn wE JuSt uP AnD FuCkInG, TaLk oR SoMe oThEr cRaZy sHiT?  
>TA: Why w0uld I want to talk t0 y0u?<br>TC: ... fUcK, YoU PrObAbLy dOn'T HuH? ShIt, i'M SoRrY BrO. ThInGs wErE PrEtTy fUcKeD Up aT ThE TiMe.  
>TA: Y0u want t0 talk t0 me ab0t fucked up?<br>TA: Because I d0n't even want t0 hear it TC: FaIr eNoUgH I TC: WhEn dId yOu sToP TyPiNg wItH TwIn 'ii'?  
>TA: When my teeth g0t bl0wn 0ut TA: but that's n0t the fucking p0int TA: What d0 y0u want?<br>TC: WoAh hOlY MiRtHfUl sHiT DuDe!  
>TC: Oh rIgHt.<br>TC: OkAy, sKiP UnPlEaSaNt rAgE TaLk. wHaT's wRoNg wItH KaRkAt?  
>TA: Everything, just everything.<br>TC: WeLl fUcK, ThAt wHy hE Up aNd dIdN't rEcOgNiZe mE?  
>TA: He d0esn't remember shit TA: He d0esn't even remember that I used t0 have eyes TA: and a lisp TC: ShIt, rEaLlY? WhAt hApPeNeD?<br>TA: He w0n't tell any0ne TA: We d0n't kn0w what fucking happened TC: FuCk bRo )o:  
>TA: He just st0pped c0ming 0nline 0ne day TA: Just like y0u did TA: 0nly next time he c0ntacted us TA: he was blabbering 0n ab0ut nightmares TA: and he said he c0uldn't sleep anym0re TC: tHeY StArTeD To gEt wOrSe?<br>TA: Gamzee he hasn't slept a g00d actual night's 0r day's rest f0r at least three sweeps


	8. Let's get face to face

Gamzee stared in silent shock at his phone, little words starting to click slowly into place as he read through the chat log a third and forth time. It was difficult, as he tried to focus through that damned haze and connect all the dots that were clearly being laid out before him. Taunting him, laughing as he struggled. And when they finally all latched into their proper spot, the Capricorn felt sick.

TC: WHAT youve gOtTa bE FuCkIn' jOkInG.  
>TC: ThAt fUcKiNg lOnG?<br>TA: I wish TA: Yeah TA: He says he d0esn't like talking ab0ut them TA: But TA: he st0pped eating ar0und that time t00 TA: Me and Terezi tried t0 check in 0n him as 0ften as we c0uld TC: FuCk i TC: ShIt mAn, i dOn'T EvEn kNoW WhAt tO AlL SaY AbOuT ThAt.  
>TA: y0u're right TA: y0u d0n't TA: y0u didn't have t0 watch TA: Why d0 y0u even care anym0re TC: LoOk mOtHeRfUcKeR, JuSt bEcAuSe aNoThEr mOtHeRfUcKeR AbScOnDs tO TaKe cArE Of sHiT DoN't mEaN He dOn'T StOp cArInG AbOuT HiS FrIeNdS.<br>TC: ShIt tHiS WaSn'T HoW I WaS HoPiNg tHiS WoRd cHaT WoUlD Go.  
>TA: N0t much ends up g0ing the way y0u want it t0 g0<p>

Each word Sollux snapped at him via text was akin to taking a juggling club to the skull. It hit him, deeper and deeper, scratching at the wall that he kept all those silent little secrets in. That normally crazed smile on his face after ingesting the slime, was replaced by the lop-sided, uneven frown that fell unnaturally against the fake painted grin. And the others were beginning to notice. Jarren, who was blushing furiously and snapping angry remarks at another male highblood, felt himself jabbed in the ribs by the little dancer Tansis. Their eyes glued to Gamzee's back, and before long, their attention had caught the focus of some of the others. The Capricorn ignored them, even as Tansis skipped over and knelt down in front of him, staring intently to try and catch his attention.

TC: MaN, I HaTe dOiNg tHiS ShIt oVeR ThE PhOnE. CaN We jUsT, MeEt uP SoMe pLaCe?  
>TA: Y0u c0uld be halfway ar0und the fucking w0rld f0r all I kn0w TA: H0w did y0u even get my number anyway?<br>TC: NaH BrO, I'm aT SkAiA. I HaD A FrIeNd fInD YoUr nUmBeR In tHe mAgIc sYsTeM.  
>TA: Y0u're here t00?<br>TA: Well fuck TA: Did y0u run int0 Karkat? Is that what started this stupid c0nversati0n?  
>TC: YeAh TC: He'S My nEiGhBoR TC: BuT, He dIdN't eVeN GiVe a sEcOnD GlAnCe TC: I ThOuGhT He wAs aLl fUcKiNg iGnOrInG Me oR SoMeThInG TC: NoT ThAt i'D FuCkInG BlAmE HiM FrOm wHaT TC: LoOk, cAn wE FuCkInG MeEt uP?<br>TA: Yeah, sure, whatever TA: I'm with Karkat right n0w, we're 0n campus TA: Y0u can meet us at the c0mputer labs TC: ThAnKs sOlLuX TA: d0n't thank me TA: I'm 0nly d0ing this f0r this idi0t's sake

He flipped his phone closed and made to stand, but was stopped by two hands on his shoulder, and the face of Jarren leaning over to one side to stare at him expectantly. "Hey G-Zee, yer acting kinduh freakin' weird." Tansis spoke up then, "Yeah! What's got your curls in a knot Gam-Gam!" Gamzee flicked his gaze from one to the other, and for a brief moment, couldn't help the flash of resentment that came up in his chest as he turned to face Tansis. It had been her suggestion in the first place, all those sweeps ago, to cut contact with his old friends while he was adjusting to maturity. However, that small irritation quickly died. After all, she didn't make him stop keeping contact after all that madness settled down. Not to mention, it was her, Jarren, and Valus that had taught him more about his blood cast, and the reasons for the issues he had had during his maturity. They helped him understand more about his ancestor, took the direct brunt of his crumbling sanity, and even risked their lives a few times to make sure he kept his control.

Though, they enjoyed his sober side, while he did not. "Sorry brothers and sisters, I just got some business to situate my mirth into."

"So what? Yer just ditchin'? Lame man."

"Yeah Gam! Can't we come toooo? You shouldn't be doing stuff alone."

"Not yet anyway."

"Shoooosh Jarren, you know Gam-Gam doesn't like to talk about that. Besides, he won't be alone when that happens anyway."

Behind the three of them, the other trolls had begun to whisper to one another, though Gamzee didn't hear them whenever Tansis and Jarren joined in. They weren't taking bets, their rank in society was far below such demeaning practices. But they were comparing ideas about what was happening. Tansis though it was an old Kismesis or Matesprit. Jarren was arguing that it was just some imaginary spectre Gamzee was fighting with himself about. A couple of others suggested that maybe he was finally going to show some wrath upon the lowbloods.

"Sorry bros, but I really gotta go. One of you can come, but ya gotta get your chill on away from me and the others when we get to talkin' alright?" And he was up, wobbling from side to side for a brief moment, before taking off down the sidewalk. He remembered where the computer labs were, because he had nearly gone to that building when dragging Jarren across the school grounds. Behind him, he was briefly aware of a rather violent sounding scuffle, as Tansis attempted to follow him, only to be stopped by Jarren. The noisy distraction was accompanied by a violent string of derogatory statements and he took the moment to pick up his pace, and abscond. He didn't have time to wait for them. Half-way across campus, Valus appeared at his side.

"Thanks Val, you really helped a fucker out."

"Not from what I read. I assume you are confronting the degenerate lowblood to truly talk and not cull him for his disrespect?"

"Cool it sis, I'm in the fuckin' wrong here. It's a miracle from the messiahs that Sol even agreed to meet up. So no comments on caste and shit."

"Very well, but I shall keep my distaste silent in verbal manner only."

"That's all I'd ask."

The rest of the way was walked in silence. He didn't have to ask her to give him some privacy with the other trolls once they met up, it was safe to assume she already knew. Valus had this way of figuring out those sort of things pretty quick. She was intelligent, in a rather terrifying way. When they entered the building containing the computer labs, he slipped in, holding the door open for the fellow highblood like a proper gentletroll, before they found their way to the first lab.

There, outside the door, Gamzee leaned against the wall, and Valus stood straight and poised patiently beside him. Not a word or sound passed between the two of them. Though when the mustard blooded Gemini appeared and the Capricorn's eyes flicked to hers, she gave a slight nod, shooting an unrestrained sneer of distaste in Sollux's direction, before entering the computer labs with her head held high. Gamzee stayed silent, as he waited for an approach or comment. 


	9. Pretty much dying

Sollux closed his phone, and then pinched the bridge of his goggles, just over his nose in irritation. This was so stupid; why the hell had he even offered to meet up with Gamzee? It wasn't like the purple blooded troll was going to be able to help or any stupid shit like that. Karkat probably didn't even remember the fucking highblood's name, much less his face. But still… He wasn't improving the situation at all. The most Sollux could do was get Karkat to eat every now and then, but that wasn't enough. He wasn't a fucking moirail to the guy and he didn't know what to do most of the damn time.

"Hey, Sollux"

Gamzee, on the other hand, was. Or at least used to be. That had to have counted for something right?

"Sollux, are you even fucking aware that I'm here?"

It was a long shot, but he had to try something right? As much as He didn't want to think about it, this cycle of the red blood troll was leading right down into a place that he didn't want to go. Karkat was slowly killing himself as sure as a bullet to the brain would do a much faster job.

Okay, that solved it; Sollux was officially off in his own world. Karkat glared at the mustard blooded troll for a few minutes, as if his glare had the power to burn through flesh and that would get his attention, but it was all for naught. Whatever Sollux was thinking about, it must have been damn important. But it still raised Karkat's ornery levels by at least 17%. He hated being ignored, because it was so easy for people to do. Why else would he speak in all fucking caps when online? Karkat continued his staring for at least another five seconds, before his small line of patience blew its top.

"SOLLUX YOU BASTARD"

Sollux jumped as he was ripped rather violently from his own mental conversation, and automatically looked towards the source of the voice. "What?" He responded back somewhat irritably at having been yelled at, but he quickly got over it.

"Who the hell were you talking to? You looked pissed off the entire time" Karkat demanded, crossing his arms and taking a firm standing in front of the… much taller and somewhat intimidating troll.

"Jutht… Just an old friend. Stay here I gotta to talk to him" Sollux responded, mentally berating himself for accidentally slipping back into the habit of his lisp. Oh how he hated it. It was easy to accidentally fall back on though. Karkat most likely gave him an odd look, but see, that was the good thing about being blind, looks didn't affect you. He could only sense how people were feeling by a slight re-verb in the electrical signals they sent off. It was probably something left behind from when he had been able to concentrate the electrical impulses in his own body, amplify them to insane extremes, and then fire them out of his eyes. It was nice that even though he was blind, he still had some way of seeing the world, just like Terezi, only it didn't involve licking shit.

Karkat's mouth set into a hard, fine line, coal black eyes narrowing in suspicion towards the other troll. "Whatever it was, you looked really pissed off" he observed. _Oh dammit_, Sollux stared back with something akin to a poker face.

"Yeah, just haven't talked to them in a really long time, look. I'll be right back, please just stay in here? It shouldn't take that long" He asked, almost begging even.

"What am I? Some fucking newborn wriggler, just hatched and finished the damn trials? Are you my fucking lusus now?"

"Karkat…"

"Oh dammit fine, I'll stay right fucking here"

"Thanks KK" Sollux responded with a slight smirk on his face as he turned around and headed for the door. Hopefully his few minutes arguing with Karkat had given Gamzee enough time to get his ass over here. The few times he'd seen Gamzee in person was enough for him to be able to recognize the indigo blooded troll's electrical impulses, but there was someone else with him, someone that put him in a high state of unease.

He immediately regretted his decision. Of course Gamzee would have had high blood friends by now; it was only natural, being the descendant of the Grand High Blood himself. But still, the female with him bothered him more than Gamzee did. It was even worse when, after giving Sollux a short vibe of contempt, she went straight into the computer labs, where Karkat still was. He was immediately tempted to run in and drag Karkat out, but he resisted the urge, that would only gather attention, and lots and lots of yelling. After all, what were the chances of the high blood who went inside to speak to Karkat of all the people in there?

Nevertheless, he walked towards Gamzee, a slight frown on his face, showing his rather obvious state of discomfort. "Okay, we're here now, what do you want to know?" He asked, trying not to sound too passive aggressive like his messages on the phone had been. He wasn't sure how much Gamzee had changed over the years, so he had to tread carefully now that he had calmed down some.


	10. Interesting

Gamzee had been leaning in silence, waiting for Sollux to get within earshot, and was… slightly taken aback at first. Well, for one, it kind of looked as if his eyes were missing. Fuck, had that happened when his teeth had been blown out? Had he still been around when that had happened and didn't remember? Great expanses of memory were lost to the Capricorn, often in multitudes of months. Though when Sollux spoke to him, his mind re-focused itself and the search for the non-existent past whispers were temporarily forgotten.

"Okay, we're here now, what do you want to know?"

The Capricorn didn't respond immediately, his half-drugged eyes taking in more of Sollux's stance, not missing the previous flicker of something when Val had entered the computer lab to give them some privacy. He couldn't help but notice the slight change in the Gemini's body language whenever he took notice of her at the beginning, and it was with a slight sting to his chest that he noticed it stayed when she left. So if he had come by himself, it would have been better... he also took notice that the other refused to greet him. Though Sollux would have found out sooner or later anyway, after all, that miniature gang of his weren't exactly that hard to miss, and held no need for subtlety or silence. Most of his fellow highblood's thoroughly enjoyed their positions, and all the 'perks' that came with it.

"Hey Sollux. Wait… we?" Karkat was- Oh. That clicked then why Sollux had been somewhat distracted when Valus had walked into the computer lab. The uncomfortable stir in his stomach increased ten-fold, and he swallowed, silently calming down that swirl of maddening words that churned and groaned through the slime of his think pan.

"Don't get your worry on about Val. She's got a mean bite, but she don't usually dirty her hands against low-other blood casts." Unless they pissed her off, which was a rather difficult thing to do. Oh, it was quite easy to irritate or annoy her, but it took a true master of snark to set her off the deep end and push her to more barbaric practices. Gamzee quickly changed the subject, not wanting to focus on his Highblooded friend and/or friends. He tried to tell himself that Sollux only knew about Valus, that all his think pan would know, was that she was his current only ranked friend… but no, the Capricorn knew better than that. The Gemini was smart, if anything, when it came to problem solving, and figuring out basic principals. It was no small secret that Highblood's tended to run in 'packs'. His throat cleared as he spoke again.

"Okay, I got that Karkat just one day stopped getting his log on. But, do you got your think about anything strange before he went undercover? Like his romcoms set fire, meteor got it's crash into his hive, something life disrupting?" He didn't move from his position as he spoke, all slouched posture, and long limbs. An awkward hand rose after a moments pause, clawed nails scratching at the base of his hairline at a mischievous phantom itch that crept up on him like a proper laughsassin. Gamzee tried to think, tried to bring up any odd signs or actions before he himself had pulled a vanishing act, that Karkat may have been sending. Nothing. A big fat fucking fog of nothing.

So Gamzee simply waited, staring expectantly at Sollux, remaining entirely too still, not even twitching in that silent patience. Control, a new, incredibly unstable ability he had gained through the sweeps, but it was something he had been attempting to put into practice. It was because of this ability that Jarren was still alive. Today wasn't the first time he had slammed a near sober Gamzee upside the head with that damned Frisbee.

* * *

><p>It was infuriating really, absolutely and utterly maddening. Her mind, as always, was boggled after the short periods of interaction with Gamzee Makara. It was beyond her how someone with such purity in his veins, would lower himself to speak to the writhing carcasses known as lowbloods. Certainly, she could see how in his youth, out of pity for the pathetic creatures, he would have spoken to them out of mercy. But now, on the path to his inheritance, to his position of the highest subjugglators... She would have sighed and gave her head a shake, if it wouldn't have been on obvious sign of her bereavement. And there were others present.<p>

Valus admittedly, had her pride wounded just a bit. She assumed that the reason Gamzee had insisted on meeting this Captor filth in person, was because he knew that she had been reading in on his phone conversation. Evenly distributed fangs grounded out in silent deprivation as she glided with a too smooth gate past a short little charcoal eyed troll, whom she assumed must have been with some sort of high school group touring the university and lost his way. Whatever, the wriggler was not her problem, as she slipped in to a seat in the front row, straightening the hem of her long laced skirt with a simple sweep of the hand.

Fine, she wouldn't listen in on the young Grand Highblood's conversation, but she would do some investigation into this Sollux Captor and Karkat. Fingers flew across the keyboard, typing in an access code and password, although she was not enrolled in any computer classes, let alone been issued codes to access the system on the first day. She was no hacker, but she was good at getting the information she desired. Manipulating the mind of the singular staff in the records department had been a simple feat. In but a few hours, she had acquired the administrative password and username to nearly every system she deemed necessary on campus.

But back to the present, as she tapped into Skaia Universities student records. She pulled up Sollux first, skimming over his basic information, before attempting to pull up his history or any other records. Her indigo and black painted lips, pressed into a thin line of irritation, as she saw that the informative and enlightening personal information, had been encrypted with a code. _What a disappointment, I will have to interact with a lowblood or human from the computer sciences department and convince them to break through the barrier._She put the student picture of Sollux to one side of the screen, and then proceeded to do a search for a 'Karkat'.

The computer loaded far quicker than she would have expected, and her life was simplified greatly, as it appeared that there was only one being with Karkat as either his first or last name, in the system. She pulled up his file, slipped up a picture, and blinked in silent surprise. Her lips pressed tighter, not in irritation this time, but in suppressed amusement. If she was of the more whimsical type, she would have burst out laughing. The troll that glared at her through the computer screen, was the same one that she had dismissed as a high school wriggler lost on a tour. The very same one in this current room.

Valus did release a small hum of amusement, skimming over his statistics... though that temporary mirth returned to a frown, as she found the same kind of encryption over his history as Sollux's. For a small moment she read and re-read the basic information provided, home address, phone number, contact email etc. etc. before a thought caused her to pause.

The main reason she had thought Vantas was a infant, was because his irises had been devoid of color. With renewed curiosity, the female highblood clicked the Cancer's school picture back to the screen, and gave a curious glance across his eyes to determine that she had not been mistake. _Well now, that is interesting_.


	11. Sleep for Just a moment

The mustard blooded troll still seemed to be a little on edge, despite Gamzee telling him that the female troll, apparently named Valus, wouldn't hurt anyone in the room. Well hopefully he was right. Gamzee didn't always happen to exactly pick the best of friends, Karkat had always seemed to keep him away from the more dangerous ones.

Sollux frowned as Gamzee questioned him, empty eyes narrowing a little under those goggles. "I didn't notice anything right beforehand. Couldn't get online much" He answered slowly. He had really only become involved when Terezi called on him for help, she and Aradia had been the ones involved in the main incident that started this whole thing. "He seemed fine to me. But the night after the one he was last online, Aradia did call me and ask if I had talked to him. She mentioned something about him saying he was hearing some stupid animal outside his house and was going to go investigate it, and then he didn't come back after that"

"Terezi went and decided to take a look around his respiteblock to see if he was okay, but she told us that it was completely ruined and no one was there. Fuck, we all thought something had fucking killed him for months. I almost had a heart attack when he sent me a fucking message after all that time" Sollux added rather vehemently. That conversation had gone much, much worse than any conversation with anyone he had ever had ever. And not because of the anger and feeling of irritated relief, but because of how absolutely broken the red blooded troll seemed with that stupid, simple message repeating itself over and over again in his browser.

"He sent me the same fucking sentence over and over again. Just the same three fucking words until I finally managed to trace his damn signal and find out where he was. And then when I showed up, he got pissed off and demanded to know how I found him. He didn't remember sending me the message at all. Things got worse after that. I managed to get him back online and talking to some of us, but for the most part, he stayed silent. He just kept getting worse and worse. He wouldn't sleep and he rarely ate. It happened really quick, he just started forgetting things. They were small at first, until he forgot people completely. Fuck I had to explain who I was like five goddamn times to him"

Karkat had stared rather angrily at the back of Sollux's head as the troll left the room and stepped into the hallway, and in all honesty, the troll was tempted to follow after and listen in on the conversation. But he wasn't the meddling type, plus he could really care less. So instead, he inspected the room closely, he'd have one of his computer classes in here, just about the only thing he was getting good at. In his youth he had always been fond of computer codes and hacking and all that, but he had been, to admit it, fucking horrible at it. He was a lot better now though, it was one of the few things he could focus his tired mind on when he needed to think about something else. Not near Sollux's level, but then again many weren't, but still, it was something.

He had sort of given up, and resigned himself to sit at one of the tables that served as desks, leaning against it with his head sitting in the nest of his arms, eyes half open and glaring a hole into the door, figuratively of course. He let his mind naturally empty itself, lids starting to feel heavy, but no, he wasn't going to fall asleep again, not for the second time in the fucking day.

'_You don't have to sleep, just rest your eyes for a moment'_

Yeah right, he was not falling for it.

'_No nightmares can form in the matter of a few seconds'_

Yes, yes they could, Karkat had way too much experience to not know better. Unfortunately for him, as he mentally argued with his body's cry for some form of rest, his eyes slipped the rest of the way closed, and his breathing became even and peaceful. For a second, a tiny, single second, the lines of anger and insomnia faded from his face, making him look much… healthier, but only for a second before a painful grimace painted itself across his features. His eyelids convulsed and twitched, already caught in the throes of a dream.

He was sitting in the room, staring at the door, when he noticed that the area around him had gone silent, as opposed to the background noise of pleasant conversation going on earlier. He let his discolored eyes flicker across the room, focusing on each troll in turn as they all seemed to have simply become frozen in place, wide, empty looks on their faces. And then, suddenly, all their heads began to turn towards him, his own eyes widening as some sort of demented smile crossed each and every face, the eyes seeming to shrink into their sockets, blood of rainbow hue pouring down their faces and their mouths. Their bodies made horrible cracking noises, as if the bones were breaking apart into tiny fragments and rapidly snapping back into place with each tiny moment. And the sound made him cringe.

Oh…

_Oh fuck. _

* * *

><p>"It stayed the same for a really long time. He would sleep a little at least, but he would always hate it after words. I don't fucking know what's better for him anymore. Sleep or no sleep. His body fucking needs it, so does his mind, but each time he wakes up it's like someone ripped him out, stabbed him a bunch of times, and plopped his bleeding, broken self right in fucking front of him" Sollux blurted out, his frustration leaking through for a second before he realized what he was saying. "Shit, that doesn't even make any sense" He bit down on his tongue, gumming it thoughtfully. "We're fucking trying but nothing is working. He just keeps getting worse no matter how much we're trying to help and it's fucking killing him. And it's killing all of us to not be able to do shit about it"<p> 


	12. Comprehend it

Gamzee was silent, deadly silent, as he listened to Sollux's carefully worded sentences. It did not last long however, and after a brief moment, the Capricorn was suffering from information overload. The Gemini spoke rather quickly, his tone changing from rage to something akin to defeat with the speed with which one could flip a light switch. Gamzee struggled to keep up, feeling as though he were being hit left and right by each word. However physically, in all appearances, he remained perfectly still. Not that Sollux would notice, not being able to 'see' in the normal since of the word. How long had he been holding this all in? It didn't seem like he had spoken about it with anyone new in long time. When he finally finished, Gamzee moved, raising his bandaged hand to run his fingers through the tangled mass of curled hair. And then he responded,

"Fuck bro, just... gimme a second to process."

His head was swimming, damn near literally. Everything felt dizzy, and his brain felt as if it were a pile of incomprehensible sludge swaying back in forth in a storm swept sea. Damn, he was even seeing double. He almost regretted asking Valus to let him and Sollux talk in private, she would have been able to sum up what was said into a few short sentences that he would have been able to quickly understand. But no, that would have been a bad idea, and besides, this was something he felt he needed to try and sort out for himself.

Karkat remembered Sollux and Terezi, that he got, though he could only imagine, if Sollux's tone was anything to go by, what kind of hell it must have been to remind the Cancer of who he was so many times. The next thing he was able to focus on, was the comment about what had happened previous to the red blooded troll's disappearance. To the Capricorn, it sounded as if a massive fight had broken out, what else could cause such a vast array of destruction that would all but level a hive? The next bit to go through him, was the manner to which Karkat had been found. The repetition of three words being revisited over and over, was something Gamzee was all to familiar with. It was something he himself had down, though his had been narrowed down to one singular word. Honk.

Then, the last sentence that had been growled out by Sollux, ran by his think pan, and that frown deepened on his face. Karkat wasn't responding to any of them? Hell, he would have thought the comfort that he had at least had friends trying would have helped. But he imagine memory loss didn't help the Cancer's mind in the slightest. Not to mention, if he wasn't being angry, you could always rely on Karkat to be as stubborn as a CanyonBeast. Gamzee's lips parted to speak, before a rather loud buzzing in his pants pocket brought his attention downward.

He didn't move, listening to the current foreign sound and vibration against his hip, until it died down with a Bing. He ignored it, even as it started buzzing and binging in quick succession afterward, near non-stop for the next few minutes while Gamzee spoke, "Okay, so some serious destruction happened, Karkat absconded, and when he returned, he was babbling as if he had taken a ticket to the Dark Carnival," The Capricorn recapped, before throwing on to the end of it, "And now his snooze is infested with nighterrors, and he's been ignoring food like a loose lock on a beast cage."

"Man, that's motherfuckin' wrong on so many tiers."

Hesitation came from Gamzee in waves then, and the next words that came from his lips, didn't even process in his think pan until there were already off of his tongue, "I want to try and help." The phone in his pocket buzzed again, and once more, it was ignored.

* * *

><p>Valus had tried to hack the code, though she admittedly had no clue what she was doing. She was tempted to leave and find a good little computer head to do this bidding for her. But she decided it would not be good to leave Gamzee alone with the blind degenerate ass outside. So she sat, bored and tapping at keys in failed attempts at guess hacking, when a small, very subtle sound, caused her light indigo eyes to be cast over her should. Well, it looked as though little Vantas had decided to lay his freak head down for a nap. Normally she would have turned back to passing idle time, but the expression on the other troll's face made her stop.<p>

That elegantly trimmed, finely groomed crown of hers, gave a slight tilt to the side, as she studied the male's expression. She had studied a troll under the fit of a nightmare before, but this... this was curious. He seemed to be under some kind of intense, and truly horrific experiences. The twist of horror and panic on his face was absolutely beautiful. Now if only it were stained in blood, then Valus would have been looking at a master piece. The females fingers entwined together, pressing to her lips as she leaned back to silently observe the clear amount of pain on this color-less lowblood's face. She took in every detail, much like a scientist taking notes on a particular little experiment.

Oh no, she would make no move to assist him. That was far below her, to offer help to a nobody.


	13. Just Die

Karkat lurched backwards in his seat, and in his dreams, his eyes were no longer charcoal black, but the color of bright, burning flames, flashing red through the entire room, making all of the blood dance in shades of red as those bodies lurched closer still. He screamed at them to get away from him, but they continued their steady progress forward. Just listening to them made him feel sick to his stomach, and he could feel the half digested sandwich curdling in there angrily. It sounded like wet, sloppy snapping noises, accompanied by sporadic twitching and jerks, like they were stuck to gears that were rusted and jerky or maybe they were puppets, their limbs pulled by strings, jerked this way and that.

He felt his heart lurch in his chest painfully, as if it was attempting to break itself free of his ribcage. His tongue felt swollen and as though it filled up his entire mouth, his throat closed, refusing to give him enough air to hardly breath. He walked backwards, attempting to get away from the creatures, when he suddenly hit something fleshy and sticky. He whirled around, his fingers clawing for the sickle that he knew was strapped securely and hidden underneath his jacket. But his hands groped at air, and he felt two hands curl around his throat, forcing him to look at…

_Himself. _

His red eyes went wide at the other version of himself that stood before him, seeming nearly twice as tall. It was nearly covered in red blood, his, no, it's hair, matted completely in blood that constantly flowed down from the eye sockets, the ears, the mouth, and a large gash across the throat that revealed pulsing organs and flesh underneath, scarred and rotten. This thing that had to be him but couldn't be him at the same time smiled widely, a big, toothy grin, his sharp little teeth glimmering with blood in the rusted light that blanketed the room. His eyes were gone, nothing more than empty, scarred sockets that looked like two fresh wounds, going all the way through his head, but instead of seeing the wall on the other side, there was just an utter darkness. Karkat tried to scream, but the other-him tightened its grip, cutting off his air flow.

"_Just… die…. Die… die"_ It hissed at him, it's voice sounding so much like his, but wet, with the sound of blood in his throat, and dry, ragged at the same time, like it hadn't spoken in a lifetime. And then it laughed, sounding more like broken glass was being forced down his throat at the same time.

"_Are… you afraid…?"_ It asked, seeming to take enjoyment in the question as the other-him forced him down to his knees, squeezing his throat so hard that it felt like it would snap under the pressure. _"Just… let it all… go… and die…. Die… die…"_ it ordered, it's voice strangely soothing, and then that mouth opened wider, a maw of black and red, and it lurched forward at him, consuming him into that darkness with one final scream.

"_**DIE**__**"**_

Karkat screamed wordlessly, bolting upright in his chair so quickly that it fell backwards, toppling him onto the floor and under the table. He shook violently, the image of that other-him dancing before his wide, terrified eyes. He knew he was awake now, but he couldn't get that one out, it was new, terrifyingly new. He crawled on the floor for a second, getting away from the toppled chair and ignoring the stares that came his way, scrambling onto his feet, and bolting as fast as his trembling limbs would allow him towards the door.

Only to run smack right into a rather large chest, and fall back on his ass. Shaking still, his gaze tore from the floor, looking up at the indigo eyed figure before him, uncomprehending.

* * *

><p>Sollux nodded, giving Gamzee a few minutes to process everything. He remembered how hard taking it all in had been at the time when it was him having things explained to him, having Karkat babble like an idiot to him and then not recall it later. Finding out he was alive after grieving his supposed death for months and looking for any sign of him at the same time. Pure hell. It was probably worse for Gamzee, who was his moirail.<p>

"I figured you'd want to" Sollux responded, his voice much calmer now, the angry tone fading from it quickly as it lost its source. "You guys were moirails once, I don't know if that'll count for anything now, but he would talk to you about shit he wouldn't talk to anyone else about" He added, his voice gaining a bit of strength. "It was the only reason I agreed to talk to you. I hate to put the pressure on you, and load you up on all this information at once, but I think you're the only person who can find out what's wrong with-" he started, but was cut off as a noise came from the classroom that made his yellowed blood run cold.

For a moment, just a second, he was frozen on the spot as Karkat's scream echoed in his ears, oh fuck fuck fuck! Why had he left the other troll alone? Why dammit? He whirled around, but found that Gamzee had already beaten him to the door, and chased the highblood through it.


	14. Scream yourself awake

The whole show was proving to be... rather entertaining. When he started to twitch, make violent movements, the bare ghost of a smile pulled up at the corner of Valus' lips. She became engrosed in the performance, forgetting for the time, that she had been attempting to investigate the two walking sacks of decay that were causing such odd behavioral changes in Gamzee. Those light indigo eyes, devoured the sight, following every inch of movement now, and when he jerked back in his seat, even her concern for the Capricorn became forgotten. What night terror was he experiencing, what beautiful pain and hellish art was dancing around inside of his head? When he screamed, a delicious chill shredded down her spine, oh what a pure and wonderful sound. And when he twisted upon the ground, in his rightful place in the world, she felt joy bubble up into her chest in the form of a hardly contained purr. Oh, it would be so easy with him like this, how simple would it be to walk over, and tear lines into the soft flesh of his back. What nasty little color hid beneath that ashen flesh.

Then he was running, and there was that instinct to give chase. It would take only seconds to fling her hidden barbs into his ankles. In her minds eye, she could just imagine the sickening sound his skull would make as it would slam against the ground, unable to move his feet without digging her weapon further into his flesh.

And then Gamzee was there, and the lowblood had bounced rather pathetically from the male's cest. A scowl instantly spread over her lips and at once Valus was on her feet, and storming towards the small gathering in the door way.

* * *

><p>Relief flooded into Gamzee's mind, soothing the violent torrents of his thoughts and the soft murmur of voices, as Sollux finally seemed to relax. He spoke to him normally, without nearly the same amount of malice in his tone, in his voice. Though as he mentioned the fact that they had been moirails, an uncomfortable weigh slammed into his chest, and his throat felt as dry as sand paper. The thought had crossed his mind before, but now it hit him with the force of a horn-beast's kick. He hadn't been there, for whatever hell Karkat had endured. Gamzee tried to reason, saying that he was going through a horror of his own, that he wouldn't have been of help to his moirail anyway... those thoughts didn't help.<p>

The Capricorn licked suddenly dry lips, vaguely aware of the chalky taste of the darker paint he used there, before parting his lips to speak.

Whatever half-slurred words he had almost spoken, curled up and died on the tip of his tongue, as a wretched scream tore it's way into his ear drums. The sound, sent liquid dread through the highblood, and if it weren't for the clown paint over his real face, one would have seen his cheeks pale. Because in that scream, the walls began to peel to reveal the sound of a hundred swollen heart beats, each pump dripping an iron smelling, rainbow of blood from the walls, the liquid clotting and sliding like slime as the putrid substance slid to the ground.

But Gamzee was already turning. He did not see that illusion, or rather, did not let it effect him. His dark little thoughts were of no importance, all that mattered was that scream that still echoed in his ear holes, as hands that appeared as if they had been thrown into a meat grinder, reached through the peeling walls toward the computer lab door. He was half-way through, unaware of Sollux was on his tail, before an incomprehensibly blur slammed against him, knocking the air from his lungs, as he took a slightly stumbled step backwards to keep his balance.

There was a thunk, and the those sharp indigo eyes met panicked charcoal, and the screaming illusion of the blood dripped walls faded into normalcy near instantaneously. Gamzee was vaguely aware of Valus approaching them, and Sollux directly behind him, but Karkat was his primary focus. As the carnival screams drowned in his mind sludge, "Man motherfucker, you got a crazy set of lungs,"

And then he was partially kneeling, a hand extended along with a lop sided smile. A silent offer to help Karkat up. He had all but forgotten about the conversation before, the scream was lost into the memories of his think pan. He didn't know what the Cancer's reaction was going to be. Would he freak out more, have a panic attack. Oh fuck, what if he fainted? Meanwhil Valus' face turned purple in shock as she stared at the Capricorn's extended hand as if she expected it to grow horns of it's own. Surely Gamzee wasn't actually offering to touch the screaming wriggle? She shuddered, but the only word that escaped her sneer was a solid, "Ew."


	15. Bluh Bluh Huge Bitch

Hitting something solid and real temporarily stabled Karkat's mind. He blinked, the nightmarish images fading from his vision, but not completely from his mind. His heart still beating a mile a minute, but at least it wasn't threatening to explode anymore. He heard words, blurred and distorted, being spoke to him, but it took a second before they became clear. His hazed eyes cleared as he glanced up at the clown faced troll who was offering him a hand up, brows furrowing together as if confused. He knew what those purple rings in the male's eyes meant. Highblood, probably one of the highest he had ever seen, and he was distrustful of that. But at the same time, those lazy eyes looked way too stupid to house any kind of violence or hatred.

Some of that fear displaced itself, sinking away as reality became clearer to him. He swallowed harshly, forcing down the rest of that terror, and carefully reaching one hand up, accepting the highblood's offer of help to be hoisted up to his feet. He chewed on his lower lip, still a little shaky, but otherwise fine now. The fear usually faded away pretty quickly once he actually snapped out of the nightmare. But his usual attitude took a few moments to resurface, Right now he just felt numb and shaky.

He ignored the female troll, not even really hearing her as he steadied himself, taking a step back, a little unsure now. "Uhmm… thanks… I guess…" He responded a little bit awkwardly, swallowing harshly again and looking over towards Sollux as he spotted the mustard blood close behind the clown faced troll (had Karkat seen him earlier in the hallway or something? He looked a little familiar).

…

Was that a fucking smile tottering on the edge of that blind fucker's face?

"Do you think this is funny you asshole?" He demanded, and for a second it seemed as though he were speaking to the clown faced troll, but Sollux quickly cleared the air of confusion by lifting his hands up in an innocent gesture.

"What? Of course not"

Gamzee's smile twitched a fraction wider and he barely suppressed a laugh at the violent words, taking a safe step back as it seemed that Karkat was slowly starting to come back to his senses.

"Oh gog," a voice dripping with discontent and disgust, floated on an otherwise lovely voice, as Valus stood there wither her arms crossed over her chest. She was refusing to look at the little cranky troll, her eyes glued on Gamzee, "Makara, please assure me you plan on cleansing that hand properly." She suppressed a defeated sigh as he simply stared at her blankly, before, bringing the offending appendage to his eyes in silent inspection.

"Why? Fuckers not dirty or nothing."

Clean his hand? Because he had helped Karkat up to his feet? Okay, the munchkin troll's red blood was boiling now. A snarl crossed his face, and he opened his mouth to shoot back a retort towards the female troll, but before he could get most of a single word out, he found a hand covering almost the entire lower half of his face. It kept his mouth shut, or at least muffled the now angry noises coming out of it.

Sollux winced a little as Karkat tried to free himself by biting down on his fingers. It hurt a little because damn, Karkat had sharp little needle teeth, but still, he'd rather deal with that then let the idiot say something that would get him killed. "A-anyway. Sorry about earlier, the hostility and all that" He stated, completely ignoring Valus and not even looking at her, instead focusing on Gamzee. He had to lift up his second hand and plant it across Karkat's shoulders to try and keep him still, though damn he was good at struggling, especially when he had something nasty to say.

The eyes of the Grand Highblood's descendant flickered between Sollux and Karkat in slight confusion. Yeah, he knew that look that fell over the Cancer's face, knew that a wall of angry rage was about to get released ten-fold. That inability to understand why Karkat's rant had been blocked reached his eyes, as he tilted his head to the side in a silent question at Sollux... before his phone started to vibrate and bing with fresh gusto, scaring the shit out of Gamzee as he jumped violently to one side, a loud honk coming from his lips as he dance shuffled one hand into his pants pocket, his eyes wide as he stared at his phone with something akin to a small pout. Then he answered sollux's apology,

"Don't worry motherfucker. You were right to be all raged. Oy Valus! It's Jar and Tan," and without further warning, he threw the phone at the uptight highblood, who's eyes went wide as she jerked to one side to catch the electronic device... before she realized that Gamzee had touched the cell with his 'dirtied' hand. Immediately she dropped the buzzing atrocity.

A furious blush tinted her cheeks then, as she scowled at the unrefined behavior, pulling a kerchief from her coat pocket to bend down and pick up Gamzee's phone, before with a huff, she turned and escaped to the far corner of the room, absconding through a door with a rather violent (dignified) slam.

"Man bro, slam a breath and chill. Val's just got a thing about dirt, she's like a clean beast," and he laughed, because it honestly hadn't registered that the 'dirt' she had been disgusted about, had been Karkat.

With the she-beast bitch who was apparently known as Valus gone, Karkat calmed down a little, but dammit he still wanted to rant. As soon as the female troll left the room, the red blooded troll bit down hard on Sollux's fingers, forcing the mustard troll to let him go. He jumped away, and turned on both Karkat and the clown troll apparently named Makara. "When the fuck did this turn into a goddamn party I thought we were fucking looking around campus not getting fucking chummy with a bunch of highbloods" he spat, his tone foul and rotten and shot directly at Sollux, who merely shrugged his shoulders.

"thuff happens…. STUFF, STUFF happens. It was kinda a surprise on me too" he admitted, a sly smile touching his face as Karkat seemed to have completely forgotten his nightmare now over his anger towards the highblood female. Most of the time, when someone used anger to get over fear, it wasn't exactly good, but Karkat was a little bit different from the norm. Not only because of his blood color but because of his rather ornery personality. Anger was good for him.

"Hold up while I get my fucking party clothes on. I didn't sign up for this gather and chat shit while you ditch me in this fucking room you crazy scitzo-nutfuck. I would rather shit out ten miles of rage and tie a fucking noose for myself with it"

"oh calm down, it's not like I held a knife to you and forced you to wait in here, I just asked nicely, and I'm back now anyway so chill"

"Yeah neighbor, listen to the world get's it flow around you," Gamzee spoke, sweeping his bandaged hand to one side as if he were tracing said 'worldly flow'. Though in truth, it was a movement to brush the highblood comment out of his mind. He had to remind himself of the previous conversation, had to try and keep his mind on the fact that Sollux had agreed to let him help. Not that if he would have told him no, he would have listened anyway. "You brothers getting your navigation around the Skaia alright?"

Karkat switched his angry glare from Sollux to Makara, colorless eyes narrowing. It was a little mean to admit it, but he felt like they were planning something behind his back or some similar to that effect. Not anything bad, but more like a mean prank that had been intended in a good way, if that even made any sense at all to anyone. 'Yeah, just fucking peachy. It's not exactly that hard to find your way around this place when everything is pointed out on giant signs" He pointed out simply, the glare dying a little bit, but those eyes stayed suspiciously narrowed. Makara had given him no reason to distrust him yet, other than the fact that he was a highblood, and a pretty goddamn high one at that (in more ways than one, apparently), but still. The troll made his head hurt, and he didn't know why, and that was enough reason for him to be cautious.

Sollux merely stood by, watching the conversation and seeming to have drifted off into thought. It was hard to tell when one's eyes were not present.

The highblood laughed at that, hands slipping downward to tuck themselves into his pockets, the spotted bangles around his wrists dinging together in a rather melodic sound at the movement, "I got ya bro, but sometimes it seems like those motherfucker's move though, don't it? Like they're trying to get confusion all melded into our think pans."

There was a click, as Valus slipped back through the door she had previously exited, approaching the Capricorn with slightly narrowed eyes. Her expression was back, dignified and calm as she made a point to look only at Gamzee, not sparing the other two the pleasure of her glance, "Jarren and Tansis have requested our presence in 10 minutes at the sciences building, and have threatened to hide your accursed faygo if we do not accept." Honestly, she would have left Gamzee behind and just met up with them as the indigo-blooded slime brain would have found them again eventually. But for one problem. The door she had stormed through previously to escape, was the supply closet.

Gamzee's smile turned somewhat lop-sided as acknowledgment to what Valus had said, before he turned back to the Gemini and Cancer with a shrug, "Shit's serious when my brother and sister are threatening my wicked elixir. Guess we all up and need to get going."

Karkat just stared at Gamzee like the troll had spoken an alien language to him, eyes slightly narrowed and mouth set into a small, hard line. No one could seriously be this stupid right? Please let him be right. The guy was high on something, Karkat wasn't sure what, human drug or troll, but whatever it was it seemed to do it's fucking job pretty damn good.

He also seemed to be pretty calm and relaxed for a high blood, maybe whatever he was taking was the cause of that?

Whatever it was, it gave him a headache. But he didn't feel like complaining, any high blood that didn't want to kill him on sight was fine with him, even if it was a bit weird.

Sollux was about to reenter the conversation, when the highblood bitch from before popped her head in once more, and informed Gamzee that his other friends were threatening his faygo. Ah, he remembered that disgusting drink okay it actually wasn't all that bad but still.

He merely shrugged, "Whatever, we'll see you tomorrow, I guess"

"I do hope not," spoke Valus in her best 'you must be fucking kidding' voice, as she brushed past them all, squeezing close to Gamzee to avoid contact with the two lowbloods, before exiting the room with a sweep of her coat. The remaining highblood laughed, "See ya Sollux, see ya Karkat." and then he followed after the retreating female. They had all school year, and although he wished he could fix Karkat now, make everything right and how it used to be... he somehow had it feeling that he would have to take it slow. After all, three sweeps of suffering would not be easy to heal.


	16. The second day begins at last

The morning had gone... rather well for Gamzee actually. After waking up at five in the morning, he baked his first sopor pie. The powerful smell of the heating source filled all corners of his room with it's comforting aroma. Before it had even cooled, the Capricorn had taken it upon himself to scarf the entire thing down. The all too familiar tang of the slime stung pleasantly at his throat as it slid down to get all comfortable in his stomach, before cooling over the throbbing parts of noisy thoughts. He then set the lick-cleaned pie pan on the floor by his recupracoon, to begin the first of the soon to come, leaning towers of miracles that he had already built back home at his hive. After which, he had hung a poster of one of this capricious minstrels who may or may not be in full possession of it's mental faculties, over the crack in the wall where his fist had made contact the previous day, unpacked some of his bags, slipped his faygo in the refrigeration device, and made his way to his 8:15 am Physiology class. Where, he had admittedly slept through the first half of the professors introductions and explanation of the class. He woke up just in time to hear him mention that they would be learning about how a heart works and pumps and all that crazy shit that required living.

Then the bell rang, and he was on the move again. Jarren met him outside of the building, along with two other highbloods he had forgotten the name's of. They chatted briefly, Jarren going on and on about his excitement for the Strife 101 classes. Gamzee shared his enthusiasm. The troll only course, focusing on battle tactics and actual dueling, would be a great source for not only venting frustration, but for learning something that they would all actually use. Well, technically the Capricorn could use what he learned in his Physiology class, but not precisely in the way he would like. Though the potential of what could be done with such knowledge seemed to excited the other three.

Valus joined the small entourage on their way to the building holding the Psychology and Psychoanalysis courses. Gamzee and Jarren were heading to Psychology, Valus Psychoanalysis, and during their walk, the light indigo blooded female continued a conversation they had started last night.

"Honestly Gamzee, what possible association could you reasonably posses for such trolls so low in the hierarchy." The circular horned highblood had been probing for a straightforward answer, practically their entire walk, after having received little to no information the previous evening after leaving Captor and Vantas to whatever nonsense they would get into. Her patience was being tested, as it often was, when trying to make the young Grand Highblood make sense.

"I all up and told ya, he was... is... oh mirthful hell, I guess was, my best friend. Bro watched out for me before you guys got your chill in friendship alley."

"But why? He's obviously a mutant of some kind. Either he is hiding his blood color, or his body hasn't genetically developed enough for it to show. Why even associate with such imperfection?"

Gamzee let out a long sigh. He wasn't irritated or anything by the probing questions, but he figured he had explained himself enough times already. At this point he knew he had been repeating himself. Jarren spoke up, "Maybe t'ats why G-Zee got into teh pies?" Gamzee looked over to the shorter troll, who had his Frisbee out, and was having it spin above his head as he walked, a little trick he had been working on since the Capricorn had met him.

"Nah bro, you know that ain't why. Look, stop getting your hate all over him. The motherfucker was... is... was, the best moirail a troll could ask for. He calmed my crazy ass down so many times."

"Wha-?"  
>"WHAT!"<p>

Gamzee's traveling group of two came to a full stop. The other two highbloods that had been walking with them, had long since wandered off to their other classes. In fact, they were standing outside of the building containing their next course on mental studies, whenever the two troll's had halted and were now staring at Gamzee in shock. The Capricorn turned around to face them, brows raised up in curiosity at what made them come to a stand-still.

"G-Zee, yer fuckin' joking... right?"  
>"Oh my god, he's not. He's actually confused."<p>

Valus lifted a hand to her head as if she had just received a massive migraine, and Jarren's Frisbee had dropped to rest on his horns. The female of the trio, actually looked like she may have a panic attack, her cheeks had paled somewhat as she released a shaky breath, trying to figure out what madness had driven Gamzee to such an extent. Jarren simply stared.

"Do you even know what color his blood is?" Valus finally asked.

"...no, but I don't see why it all up and matters." Yes, of course he knew, but he wasn't going to betray Karkat's secret, even after all these sweeps.

"It matters because I am not quite convinced he even is a troll."

"From what ya told me. He sounds like uh midget lobstuh boiling n watuh." Jarren added, as Gamzee's brows crinkled in further confusion, watching on of his two friends pass him and enter the building, follows by Valus who spoke after the male's retreating form, "That would be a rather accurate representation."

Gamzee blinked after them, thoroughly confused by the conversation that had just happened, before slowly following them into the building.

Psychology was rather uneventful. The professor again, introducing herself, talking about the class, and doing a sort of pre-mini lecture, going around to let the students introduce themselves and give them theory and psychological insight into their astrological signs. Gamzee didn't know what that had to do with Psychology itself, maybe more Astronomy, but he guessed that the Professor had done it as a way to get the class interested.

Another class done, Gamzee, Valus, and Jarren, moved towards the Theatre building to pick up Tansis, who's entire morning had consisted of dance classes. She bubbled on and on, twirling about them in her baggy clothing, that she wore, simply because she enjoyed they way it billowed and moved as danced around. While they headed towards the building containing the cafeteria, Jarren briefed Tansis on the news about Karkat having been Gamzee's moirail.

"What? Noooo way! Is he still your moirail Gam?"

"I dunno," The Capricorn gave a shrug, because he honestly didn't. If he couldn't get Karkat to remember... well, maybe then he could try and rebuild it? But somehow, he didn't think he could do that. He'd forget, he already knew, that Karkat didn't remember, he'd slip, the Cancer would probably get pissed off, angry, and without any memory of their history together, he may not speak to him again.

"Ooooh, it just gives me shivers thinking about. I think I would have to bathe for weeks if I ever accepted a lowblood moirail!"

Valus spoke up, "I would simply shred open their guts and display them across my yard to keep them at bay."

"Yeah, but then you'd still have to touch them." Tansis added.

"Not if I do it right."

"Will ya two cram it, Ahm hungry enough as is without ya both makin' it worse."

Despite the rather... violent comments, Gamzee simply led the group towards the mess hall in silence now. He enjoyed listening to them talk among themselves, he didn't care so much for the topic of their conversations at times. Still, new friends couldn't replace old ones. Maybe he could talk to Sollux later again, see if he had any ideas that would help Karkat at least remember something. The Capricorn wouldn't even care if it was himself he remembered first, just any other of their friends or history would be acceptable. What he hadn't remember already anyway.


	17. Join us for Lunch?

Tic tic tic tic tic tic tic tak tak tak tak tak tak tak tak tic tic tic tic tic tic tic tak tak tak tak tak tak tak.

That was the noise that Karkat now had imbedded deep into his brain. With no sleep at night, he had to do something to pass the time, and what else would he do other than hacking and coding? Granted he had done other things as well, such as read a little, even spend some time sharpening his sickles for his classes later. He only really had afternoon ones, and not that many to begin with.

His computer screen was now completely taken up with complicated programs and H!Ack codes. H!Ack was his favorite method of altering codes and programs, and a method he had come up with himself. It was really simple, actually, but took forever to explain. Basically it was all done in numbers, and every group of three represented a letter. However, the order of the groups of numbers also played into what letter it was and how it would affect the program. A single group placed in the right spot could turn a chat client into a weaponized, security stealing device. But it could also be used to encode things. And that was just explaining the most simple aspects of H!Ack.

It was nearing eleven though, and Karkat had decided that he had fiddled enough with the program, and closed it down, making sure to save it first, and pushed himself away from the computer. He walked into the kitchen, picking up his sickles from where he had left them on the counter next to the knife sharpener.

He stashed them away safely on his belt, obscuring the blades in side pockets and leaving only the barest hint of the handles visible. There, he was perfectly ready... oh wait.

He didn't want to accidentally fall asleep, and on days he was particularly afraid of it, he had a fail safe. The red blooded troll turned and headed back into the main room, pulling his suitcase out from behind the recooporacoon, which had remained untouched all night, and opened it up, pulling out a small bottle of pills. They were simple energy supplements. He didn't use them, since they made him crash later and that always ended up bad, but he'd need to stay fully awake today and make it through his classes. He would deal with the nightmares later when he crashed, even if he didn't want to.

He had already gotten dressed earlier, a pair of loose fitting dark gray jeans with a matching belt to hold them up, and a simple T-shirt, which was black, with the symbol of Cancer across his chest. An outfit very similar to one he wore in his youth, though there were some differences here and there. Mainly the sleeves of the shirt, now short instead of long, and the jeans, which had once been sweat pants. He also slipped on a black cloth jacket to keep himself warm.

Severe insomnia actually did more to the body than people realized, besides the memory issues he had on a day to day basis, and the short attention span, he also got sick easily, and his body ran at too low of a temperature for him to be outside in colder weather for long, so he wore the jacket at all times to be safe. Plus being cold was horrendously uncomfortable.

He moved to go back to his computer desk, when his phone began to buzz angrily from the cabinet. He frowned, and headed back around, picking it up to see messages being sent to him left and right, and scowled a little. Of course Sollux would bother him and pester him fucking constantly to come to the mess hall to eat. He checked the messages, and sure enough, it was Sollux, threatening to make his computer explode if he didn't come to the mess hall.

He sighed, and shut the phone off, just after texting him back that he was on his way. If Sollux destroyed his computer he'd be pretty pissed off, damn thing was expensive and Karkat didn't exactly have money to throw around. He shoved it into his pocket, and headed out, a sour expression on his face as he walked down the hallway and out the door.

It didn't take long to reach the mess hall. The building was more towards the back of the campus, located behind the gym where Strife and such other classes were held. He spotted Sollux just outside the building, waiting by a tree, and jogged over.

"'bout damn time, I've been waiting here for ten minutes" Sollux pointed out somewhat irritably, shuffling a bit in the chilling wind. Autumn, although a beautiful season, was fucking cold.

"You could have just eaten without me, I'm not even fucking hungry" Karkat shot back, a scowl still on his face as he came to a stop.

"Don't even try it with me, just come on and let's get some food" Sollux responded, shrugging it off as the two of them headed inside.

He did, however, quickly spot Gamzee, and stared for a few seconds before an idea came to mind, he stopped Karkat, holding a hand out to block the male from going any further. "Wait, Kk, I'll go get the food, you go ask your neighboor if he wants to eat with us"

"What? Why the fuck would I do that?"

"Because if you don't, I can bl-"

"Blow up my fucking computer, goddammit why is this even important? He's surrounded by fucking highbloods" Karkat retorted, hissing the words between his teeth.

"It just is! And I swear they won't hurt you. Campus rules, no one is to be killed, even among the trolls, so you're perfectly fine" Sollux answered simply, a smile twitching at the edge of his lips. Of course, those WERE the campus rules, but likely they weren't going to be followed for very long. Trolls were always killing each other off, school couldn't stop that, neither could college. But Sollux was still confident they wouldn't attack Karkat in the middle of the damn lunch hall.

"You want me to fucking kill myself don't you? Fine, I'll go ask, but when they fucking cull me all over the damn floor, I am fully expecting you to avenge me, you bi-fucked bastard"

and with that, the two parted, Sollux heading towards the lines where the food was set out, and Karkat making his way towards the group of high bloods, his internal organs twisting around themselves anxiously. He really didn't want to do this, but fuck, he was not going to show fear to a bunch of these high blood bastards.

He walked up from their left, face set into a deep frown as he attempted to keep focus on the only one in the group who didn't seem to be very threatening, the clown guy.

"Hey, Gamzee, Sollux wants to know if you wanna eat with us" He asked, forcing his voice to come out loudly enough to be heard, he really didn't want to have to repeat himself, especially since his voice came out pretty calm and normal sounding.


	18. don't wanna eat

Once inside the cafeteria, the group of slowly growing highblood's gradually began to somewhat swell. They found a position at the corner of the cafeteria, pulling up tables and pushing benches together. Few, if any of them, actually walked up to the spread of food to get something to eat. Most of them had their own private stores, and only came to this location around lunch to socialize, build political ties, and compare kills, things of the sort. There would be no doubt that later on in the year, more than a few fights would break out from this group, whether with each other or with some brave… or foolish lowblood. No deaths naturally, not in the middle of the cafeteria or any public location. Humans had their own strange set of rules. Apparently death made them uneasy, made most reasonable creatures uneasy. Highblood's did not often file under reasonable. So any kills they made would be done in quiet throughout their stay at the University.

Unless of course, one of them lost their cool and decided to attempt a rampage.

It was at the center of this group of future tyrants, that Gamzee was located. Valus, as near always, could be found close to his side, with Jarren not too far off. Tansis weaved between them all, chatting away with nearly every highblood present, introducing herself and the other three of her closer friends and discovering bits and pieces about each one. They talked, and laughed, and to a naïve sort, they would have appeared to be a rather friendly relaxed group. Unless one focused on the primary topics of their conversations naturally.

"I was only able to hunt down a few-"  
>"I still haven't gotten the blood stai-"<br>"Oh, it was easy enough to contr-"  
>"You should have heard her sque-<p>

Certainly they talked of other things. Of quadrants, classes, histories, he-said she-saids, planned parties, ideas for the weekends. They may have been trolls, but they were still young, still had time before they were expected to completely step into the roles mapped out for them. But at the same time, they were still highbloods. So suffice to say, that when a troll that was somewhat vertically… downsized approached them, with colorless eyes and spoke, that all conversation fell quiet, and eyes of various shades of purple and blue, turned to face the Cancer. Gamzee who had been chatting with a flush faced blueblood who seemed greatly disturbed by something, focused as soon as he had heard his name.

"Oh, it's you." Spoke Valus, her voice easily carrying over the deadly silent group.

"Wait… is t'at Karkat?" Popped Jarren from the crowd, making an appearance beside Gamzee as he narrowed his eyes at the mystery-blood troll, "Lit'le fuckuhs even smaller t'en ah imagined."

"He spoke Gam-Gam's name so easily, must be. Awwww, I think he's kinda cute," giggled Tansis, leaning against a much larger blue blood, and giving her eyelashes a bat. Though it was clear by the too innocent look she gave, that her mind had thought of other things as well.

Valus stood, straightening the hem of her trench coat into a more comfortable twist as she spoke, "It is cute, that he would think Ma-"

"Sure motherfucker, the idea sounds pretty well situated."

"-ka…ra." Valus finished saying the indigo blooded troll's last name weakly, freezing. Before hers, as well as the other's eyes in the group, turned to face Gamzee. Many were shocked, other's perplexed, a few looked like they wanted to say something against it, though lips stayed still as Gamzee pulled himself to a stand and stumble-weaved over to Karkat's side.

Oh dear merciful god that may or may not exist. There were fucking blues and purples everywhere, all focused on him now. By instinct, his body screamed at him to fucking run because there was no way he could take on this many if they decided to just up and attack him.

It took a lot of self control to not blush as he heard them talking about him, calling him small and cute, because the fucking conversation reminded him too much of Terezi for his comfort levels. But thankfully he had managed to not let his blood rush into his cheeks. Don't be mistaken, he wasn't embarrassed, not at all.

He was angry, and for some reason, he felt frustrated. Goddammit Sollux, you made me walk right into my future fucking death here.

He almost jumped out of shock, however, where Gamzee agreed, blinking at the highblood with a confused expression on his face, and then quickly wiped it off, forcing his face to be neutral. He just nodded somewhat numb, and then looked behind him, eyes searching rapidly for the blind troll, who indeed had already gotten their food, and was waving him over to a more empty spot on the other side of the mess hall.

Gamzee came up beside Karkat, leaned to one side and tilting his head when he saw Karkat searching for something, before following his line of sight. Oh! There was Sollux. The Capricorn gave a wave back with his bandaged hand, smile spreading as he took a step to head over. Behind them, most of the highblood's had gone back to their conversations, murmuring quietly amongst themselves now.

"Wait Gamzee," Valus spoke up, waiting until the one she called turned his head over one shoulder to look at her questioningly, "You're really going to go with it?"

"Chill sis, I'm just going to go slam with some other friends. I'll all up and see you guys after lunch." And then he turned to follow Karkat across the cafeteria to where Sollux was situated.

As soon as they were out of ear-shot, Jarren turned to a wide-eyed, frozen Valus. "Yo V-Lus... ya okay?"

Valus, appeared to be going through some kind of malfunction. "F-f-f...f-f... Did he just say friends? Oh god, he can not be serious. Th-that is not possible."

"Well Val, he did say Karkat was his moirail," added Tansis as she jumped over, and took Gamzee's vacated seat.

"Precisely! Was! He should have remained here. This is where he belongs, not off chasing some old, cranky memory!"

"Ah dunno Val," Jarren came over to stand in front of the two females, arms crossed and brows wrinkled thoughtfully, "Teh way teh rat said G'zee's name, sure made it sound like 'e knew him still."

Valus gave an exasperated sigh, hand rising to cradle her cranium as it began to pound. She didn't like where this was going. Gamzee had admitted last night that he hadn't talked to Karkat since so many years ago when they first met. He had told her that the Cancer didn't even remember him, and had not even said his name... But yet, he just called the Capricorn by his name. Valus hesitated, before taking a seat with a wave of the hand, it was probably nothing. The Captor filth probably told Vantas.

Karkat was... actually rather pleased, and it took a lot of self control this time to not turn around and stick his tongue out or something equally immature. And it wouldn't have been surprising to anyone who knew him, it might as well be his fucking nickname. He was especially immature when it got responses that he wanted or something that might be enjoyable to wreck havoc on. Thankfully his tenancy to want to actually live managed to overrule his intense dislike towards most high-bloods and stop him from doing something so stupid.

So, walking just ahead of Gamzee, he proceeded towards the open spot that Sollux was going for, and took a seat, accepting the tray as it was pushed towards him, but not seeming too interested in eating anything on it.

Sollux frowned a little as the two came over, well, at least that plan worked, but now... "Here, you can take my tray, I kinda forgot to grab something up there anyway" he stated, setting his tray of food down on the table, and sliding it towards Gamzee, and then quickly taking his leave, trying to hide a smile as phase two of his plan was set into motion.

Gamzee watched Sollux leave to go get another tray, shrugging as he took a seat across from Karkat and accepted the offering. He wouldn't have minded not eating yet. Though Jarren had mentioned that he should put something on his stomach to help soak up some of that slime so he could focus and not get killed in Strife 101. Gamzee refused however, to go in without at least a slight sopor haze over his mind. To do so would prove deadly, and not to himself... well, not in the physical sense.

The Capricorn was about to take a bite, when he noticed the lack of... enthusiasm on Karkat's face. _He wouldn't sleep and he rarely ate._ Brows furrowed briefly, before a lop-sided smile broke out across his face, "Hey motherfucker, you gonna get a munch going? You kind of look like a piece of paper. Pretty soon your fuckin' skin is gonna be cuddling up with your bones."

"I'm not really very hungry" Karkat responded simply, his stomach not calling up on him to eat this time. It really only did that around the times he felt exceptionally sleepy, and thanks to those energy supplements he took a few hours earlier, he wasn't feeling tired, and so his stomach was silent.

Still though, he did reach forward and absentmindedly grabbed a hold of the fork on the tray, using it to push around some strange looking mush in a rather disinterested manner.

Gamzee laughed, a sound echoing suspiciously like a honk, fell on the end of his lips as he spoke again, "Just cuz your stomach ain't getting mad at you, doesn't mean you don't up and need it. Your mind can play tricks on you, like a fuckin laughsassin in giggle land." He reached out with his bandaged hand, finger poking at the edge of the other's tray with a smirk, before he took a mouthful of his own food. He had laughed, because it almost looked as though Karkat had been pouting, and really did appear childish, when he played with his food like that.

"But man bro, you'll need some motherfuckin' energy if your'e gonna be getting your think pan into learning and shit. Especially if you all up and have serious strife late on."

A faint smile just barely twitched at the corners of Karkat's mouth, and if one blinked they might have missed it. Laughsassin? Giggle Land? Once again the troll was asking himself what the fuck Gamzee was on that made him act like this and say such stupid shit. "I guess..." he admitted, and scooped up a fork-ful of some rather odd looking mush. It didn't look at all distasteful, troll food tended to be mushy and colorless. It was kinda weird to want to eat something and be disturbed because the food was the same color as the blood of someone you know.

Those colorless eyes looked somewhat unsure, flickering to Gamzee for just a second before focusing back on the food. he seemed intent on having a staring contest with it for a few moments, before shoving it into his mouth, like he was trying to eat it before it got away from him. Mouth slightly full as he chewed the food, he looked back at Gamzee with very disinterested eyes. "There, happy now?" He asked, his voice a little distorted, thanks to his mouth being full. 


	19. Get to class

The Capricorn barely resisted the urge to laugh aloud again, instead settling for a barely contained snicker. Man, he wished Sollux would get back here and see this, Karkat looked like a ChitterBeast. "I'd be even more in the mirth if you actually swallowed bro. Watch out, I might even get the star dust out, send a prayer of thanks all to the Messiahs, make this shit legit. Honk, honk." Another spoonful of the oddly colored mush found it's way into Gamzee's speak hole, as he raised a brow expectantly at Karkat.

This guy was almost as stubborn as Sollux was, geese, it was almost like he... knew...that...

oh that bipolar bastard.

Karkat was now one hundred percent sure that Sollux had enlisted this guy to try and 'help' Sollux with him. Why though, he hadn't a clue. This guy had nothing that connected him to Karkat, so why bother helping? On top of that, how did Sollux know this highblood? Hmm... there was always the option that he was just being paranoid. That would certainly make him feel more comfortable than the thought of people knowing about him when he didn't know them.

He swallowed somewhat uncomfortably, and then stared very intently at Gamzee for a few seconds.

"Where did I hear your name before?" he asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

The Capricorn, having been satisfied that Karkat had actually swallowed, turned back to his own food. He scooped a few more mouthfuls, eating about half of the edible material on the tray, before he slid it to one side. He felt Karkat's eyes on him, before he spoke. Those slightly mad indigo eyes flickered upward, meeting the Cancer's gaze dead on, unblinking, and silent for a moment. Well fuck, Gamzee hadn't even noticed that the Cancer had called him by his first name. His lips were moving before his think pan could process.

"I don't know bro. I thought Sollux got you all educated to my first name. If not, maybe you up and saw it on my door? ...Actually, I can't seem to get my remember into if our rooms had name tags situated on them. Maybe you overheard it from some of my incongruous companions?" Thank you half-sober brain for making his voice sound steady and unhesitating. Though now... Gamzee had somewhat confused himself, his brows wrinkled together as he tried to process his own words that had flowed from his lips.

"Geese Karkat you don't need to get all suspicious on him" Sollux stated as he seemingly reappeared out of thin air, taking his seat next to the two of them and setting his own tray down on the table. "I introduced you guys when we all ran into eachother at the science lab, remember?" he asked, his voice totally casual.

Karkat looked confused for a second, attempting to think back, but... he couldn't remember all that clearly. He had been sure that Sollux never introduced the two of them... but... maybe he just forgot? It would make sense, he did tend to have a horrible memory. So he settled back down, the confused look refusing to leave his face. "oh..."

Though his expression did not change, Gamzee was relieved when Sollux apparently remembered when Karkat, the current Karkat, had been told his name. Or wait... did he do an introduction then? Oh hell, he couldn't really remember. Well, he could still roll with it, as he slipped his arms onto the table, crossing them, and cradling his head there. "So, what're you brother's next classes? I'm getting all ready to strife like a rhythm gone wild."

"I don't have any classes on monday except for physics, and that's already done and over with, rest of my days are pretty packed though" Sollux pointed out simply, satisfied that his little lie worked. Of course he hadn't introduced them, he had wanted to see if Karkat could remember Gamzee's name or not, and he did, apparently, or he wouldn't have been asking about it. That meant that, hopefully, this was a step in the right direction.

"I have Strife 101 next" Karkat added simply a few seconds into the silence after Sollux seemed to be finished talking. He didn't really have much else to add to the conversation.

"We should fuckin' head there together then. Should be motherfuckin' interesting, more challenging than the slap battles in high school. And I can all up and introduce you properly to Jarren and Tansis." Gamzee's smile grew as he stretched and flexed his injured hand testingly, trying to see if it would cause him a handicap during the class, and then glanced over to Sollux. "You could join and watch Sol. Last time I checked the speak teachers don't mind others getting some observation going."

"I guess that'd be fine" Sollux responded, thinking over the idea. To be honest, he wasn't very comfortable with the idea of Karkat being in a battle oriented class, because obviously, one little injury and his secret would be out, but the red blooded troll seemed infuriatingly confident that he'd be unharmed.

Karkat shrugged, now having completely disregarded his tray, which remained untouched for the most part, and leaned forward on the table a little, as if letting it support his weight. "We're all going to fucking go there next then? fine with me" He stated in a very uncaring tone. as long as they weren't badgering him to eat, he was fine.

Gamzee smiled giving a furious nod. Though apparently, he shook his head a little to hard, his cranium swaying a little bit from side to side, until he blinked back into focus. Staring for a moment at two Karkat's before they merged back into one, "Yeah, we've got a bro class situated like pie brass. Karkat, are you not go-"

_Pick me up, hose me down,  
>I'm sorry boys about the dirty night clowns,<br>Earth does break the things that we make-_

The Capricorn slipped his phone from his pocket, blinking curiously at it in surprise. Oops, he had forgotten to put the cellular device on vibrate. He gave a light hum, flipping open the screen to skim curiously over the contents of the series of IM styled texts, ending the ringtone that signaled incoming messages.

EI: pleasE infqrM mE qF thE reasqN fqR yquR merrimenT.  
>EI: arE thE lqwblqqdS beinG amusinG<br>EI: qR iS beautifuL madnesS beginninG tQ cqnsumE  
>EI: gamzeE<br>EI: I caN seE yqU readinG thesE messageS anD I requesT aN immediatE answeR  
>EI: diD yqU finisH yquR platE<p>

TR: ValuS IS DoinG ThaT WeirD MothergruB WorryinG MinD FucK ThinG.. ResponD TO HeR OR SomethinG BeforE ShE BreakS HeR PhonE..  
>TR: AlsO TansiS AnD I WilL MeeT YoU OutsidE ThE GyM FoR StrifE! I HearD WE MighT ActuallY GeT TO DO SomE EvaluatioN DuelS TodaY! )<br>TR: SeriouslY GaM IT SoundS LikE ItS GoinG TO CracK

"Well honk, honk, honk. Motherfuckers sure get their worry bubbling over such small kettles," chuckled Gamzee, typing in a quick response to Valus, aka ElegantInformer, aka EI.

TC: ChIlL SiS EvErYtHiNg iS MiRtHfUl. dOn'T WaIt uP I'm gOiNg tO NaViGaTe tO ThE NeXt cLaSs wItH ThEsE BrOtHeRs sLaM WiTh yA LaTeR! : o)

On the other side of the cafeteria, if one were to listen carefully, they would hear a rather disturbed female voice shout 'What! Why!' across the rather large room, as Gamzee slipped his phone back into his pocked. "So brothers, you wanna go ahead and get our relocation over with?"

Karkat raised an eyebrow at the ringtone, but otherwise made no comment because it fit the clown-themed troll rather well, and if the guy was that determined to fit to a theme, then Karkat was just going to let him. Besides, why did he even care?

He waited not-so-patiently for Gamzee to finish reading the messages and responding to them, tapping his fingers against the table with a scowl on his face. As soon as the clown put his phone away and asked if they wanted to head to class, he stood up nigh-instantaneously.

"Couldn't wait for someone to fucking say that" he stated, grabbing his tray before Sollux could spout out his own opinion on the matter, and stalked over towards the nearest garbage can, tossing everything into it, and then heading for the doors, pausing to wait for the other two.

Sollux sighed, but did the same, albeit in a less rushed manner than Karkat had done, noticing that he had once again failed to get the troll to eat, which was not uncommon. he always had tomorrow, or dinner, if Karkat would even show up at the cafeteria for it.

Gamzee followed behind Sollux quietly, shuffling to one side after the Gemini dumped his tray, before depositing his own in the greedy receptacle. It took him a little bit longer to make his way to the doors, as he glanced over to where the highbloods were still gathered, a few of them looking in his direction. One of which was Valus, her eyes were the size of an owl's again, and her face was completely devoid of emotion as she watched him. Shocked into disbelief apparently, that he was actually going through with what his text had said. Tansis and Jarren were no where in sight, probably already on their way to the class. Gamzee gave his best lop-sided smile, waving a farewell to Valus, before he came up beside Karkat and Sollux. "You've got the motherfucking lead, fearless leader," smiled the Capricorn to the Cancer, as those long fingers slipped comfortably into his coat pockets.

After making sure the other two were following him, Karkat quickly set off out of the cafeteria and towards the gym just about a minute's walk east. The gym was where the more physical based classes were held, like Strife 101 and sports and what not. The trolls mainly used it for fighting, humans used it for everything else.

He did, however, slow down a bit uncomfortably as he spotted two trolls waiting for them up ahead, both high bloods with purple rimmed eyes. The male had a retarded hairstyle that involved half of his head being shaved and the rest of his hair flopped to one side, with horns that kinda hugged his head to curve in front of his brow. The girl was a bit shorter (still two inches taller than Karkat though, dammit), with really long hair that fell past her back, and nearly perfectly straight horns. He could recognize them as being part of that group of highbloods at the lunch table, and his stomach knotted around itself as the three of them approached the two highbloods.

Gamzee came up alongside Karkat when he began to slow down, following his line of sight to figure out what had caused the change of pace. Without a word, and without a thought, the Capricorn raised one appendage to give the shoulder a brief, comforting pat on the shoulder, before that same hand rose up in a wave to the duo, "Hey Jarren, Tansis."

"Oy G-Zee, wacha doin' wit teh lobstuh an... woah man, do ya not got yer see holes filled? Fuckin' wicked," Jarren, the troll with the 'retarded hairstyle' leaned back slightly, though his feet stayed firmly planted, observing the three trolls in front of him, taking particular in interest in Sollux's lack of eyes for a moment, before switching his gaze back to Gamzee. It didn't bother him as much as it seem to annoy Valus, that the Capricorn had decided to hang out with some of his lowblood friends from youth. The indigo blood was always the sort that was so chilled, he didn't seem to have a problem with anyone, Jarren could see that when they first met. So it had been one hell of a shocker to find out the male's lineage and to see his capabilities for the first time. Just the thought gave him a sort of excited, nervous fidget, as he rose his hands up to dip clawed thumbs under the collar of his coat, and pop it back up so that it framed his neck, "Ah didn't know we was doin' some wriggluh sittin'."

"That motherfucker is Jarren, bro's a bit circular. The other is Tansis, best hell dancer among us. Bro, Sis, you already got some know about Karkat, the other fucker is Sollux, he conducts codes like a capricious minstrel to a choir," Gamzee strolled away from the two then to Jarren, giving the other male a friendly brofist, before draping one arm over Tansis.

Tansis, didn't acknowledge Gamzee quite yet. She had a sweet, pleasant smile on her face, but her large eyes were completely devoid of emotion as she slowly looked from one unfamiliar troll to another.

"I am fucking nine sweeps old not two" Karkat spat back automatically at the wriggler comment. He knew it was because of his eyes, but in all complete honesty the wriggler comments were a lot fucking better than walking around with eyes so fucking red they almost glowed. Though he settled down after that.

And it wasn't because they were purple bloods either, Jarren and Gamzee didn't scare him at all.

But for some reason, that girl scared the ever living shit out of him. He refused to look at her, instead focusing completely on Gamzee and Jarren, glaring at them as he swallowed uncomfortably.

Sollux let a small smirk cross his face ever so slightly as he raised up one hand, using it to lift the goggles away from his face as he let his empty eye sockets open, giving the high blood a nice view, since he seemed so interested. "Lost them in a fight with a whiny sea-dweller, still managed to kick his ass though" He responded simply, gaining some satisfaction from the memory. Pfft, that asshole had thought he was forever cursing Sollux to a life without sight and thus misery. All he did was, yes, remove Sollux's eyes, but also those infuriating voices of the doomed that had haunted him day and night, driving away his sanity little by little, and fueling his bipolar disorder.

When Sollux responded after introductions were made, Jarren took a couple of steps forward, eyes narrowing to look into the black pits where the male's pupils had been. Before a smile that could nearly match Gamzee's, flew across his lips, "Tha'... is seriously fuckin' cool, especially since ya got tuh kick uh sea dwelluhs ass in teh process. Annoyin' fish faced freaks."

"Ooooh Jarren, I don't think Doseinn would appreciate that comment," Tansis suddenly spoke up, turning away from Karkat and Sollux.

"Doseinn can choke on mah bone bulge 'till his violet blood dribbles from 'is ear holes!" the disc wielding troll snapped, adjusting his white coat with a huff as he turned from the only female present, back to the wriggler but not a wriggler, "And ya coulduh fooled me. Yer about teh size o' one. Nah, forget teh lobstuh comment, yer smaller, like uh fuckin' crab. Hope yuh can fight Crabkat."

During the little conversations, Gamzee seemed suddenly quite interested in the fall clouds drifting by. They were just so freakin' fluffed up, as if they had been rolling around all laugh happy in a human dryer.

Karkat lost track of the conversation, and instead looked towards the door to the gym, a frown crossing his face as Jarren spoke to him again. "Hey asshole, why don't you fucking step up and find out your-" He stated, but was interrupted as the doors opened, revealing a fully grown male troll, probably the teacher.

"What are you little idiots doing out here? Class is going to start soon so get the fuck inside" The elder troll ordered, dark green eyes narrowing as he scowled at the various teens who had located themselves right outside the gym.

Karkat shot the man a scowl back, and marched inside, grumbling something beneath his breath.

Jarren followed close behind, a sneer of laughter on his face at the mystery blooded troll's near challenge. Too bad, with luck, he'd be able to duel Mr. McCrabby and show him how a Highblood fights. He considered himself rather skilled. Not nearly as good as Gamzee, how anyone could be that drugged and still move like that, he'd never know. But damn if he hadn't been working all summer so that he could dominate at that class.

Behind them, Tansis did a little twirl over to Gamzee's side, giggling slightly as the appearance of the teacher hadn't seemed to have phased him in the slightest. She reached her hand out, curling her finger's around Gamzee's own five-digit appendage, and giving a pull. "Woah motherfucker!" spouted the Capricorn, stumbling in the direction he had been guided, before giving a laugh as he was then half-dragged, half-walked, into the gym for class, greeting the adult troll with a "Hey teacher bro," as they passed.

The teacher walked back into the room, standing in the center circle and directing the students to stay near the edges of the gym room, since the middle was where the sparing would take place. He waited as the younger trolls filed in, keeping his eyes on two in particular who seemed pretty ready to go at it.

"Alright you little wrigglers, I'm pretty damn sure you all know what this class is gonna be about, so let's cut the introduction shit, and get right to it with a demonstration" He roared, his voice silencing any remaining chatter in the group as he scanned the crowd, and pointed out Jarren first, "You, get yer ass up here, and you" he added, jabbing his thumb towards Karkat as well.

"You two give us a good duel to start the quarter out on, fight goes on until I say it's fucking done, got it?"


	20. Kick some ass and get on with your day

First off, it's been decided that this chapter is now dedicated to our wonderful readers thus far. Hearts and cookies for all you guys and your reviews, keep them coming, we love to hear about what we've done right and what we can improve on~ :3

* * *

><p>"Hell fuckin' yeah!" growled Jarren, baring his zig-zag fangs in a vicious sneer as he stepped forward into the 'ring', simultaneously pulling off his coat and tossing the useless thing on the floor. It would just get in his way any way. A black tank top, with his symbol of two arrows chasing each other in a circle on the back, was all he wore on his upper body now. Fingers whipped down to his belt, unhooking a dark violet disc with a white ring in the middle. It was only about the size of his hand, but when he flicked it away from him, a violent hiss of gears whistled through the air, and the Frisbee nearly doubled in size, doing two lightning fast circles around it's master, before he snatched it from the air. Just as Tansis pushed her way to the center of the ring, pulling Gamzee, the likes of which, sat down so as not to block anyone's view. Tansis didn't argue.<p>

"Ahm gonna find out wha' lit'le secret yer keepin' Crabby."

Karkat had literally just walked into the room and picked a front row seat when the teacher fucking pointed at him and demanded he get his ass up onto the stage. He just stared for a few seconds, before sighing in an irriated manner, and standing back up, quickly making his way to the stage where he was apparently going to fight Jarren for the entire class.

He reached into the side pockets, and pulled out the twin sickles, which, due to their set-up, looked like two, medium sized metal spheres. He clicked some sort of button on the bottom, letting the handles extend and the blades expand outwards with a threatening 'shink!' as they slid into place and locked, the seams in the metal becoming nearly invisible, they fit together so well.

He wasn't intimidated by Jarren's little frisbees of death.

"Why don't you shut the fuck up and fight?" Karkat stated, and just a split second after that, the teacher stepped back, and shouted 'go'.

Jarren simply smiled, and as soon as the last word left the teachers mouth, he moved. His arm lashed out, releasing the firsbee from his grasp. For a split second it hovered, and then took off, spinning in a massive, whistling circle around the two fighters. The highblood lunged forward, a growl ripping out from his throat, as for a brief moment, his eyes flickered between the two scythes. When but five feet away, Jarren slammed one sneaker to the ground and jumped, his body twisting through the air as his other foot whipped around, at an aim for Karkat's shoulder or side. Simultaneously, a high pitched whistle and flash of indigo, heralded the arrival of Jarren's disc, as it came in at the Cancer's other side and slightly to his back.

Jarren's weapon told him that the other male could have any number of fighting styles. The disc was only a distraction and meant to take his concentration off the main threat, being Jarren himself, or he was a long range fighter. Ended up being the first one, Karkat made sure to keep an awareness on both the high blood and his stupid toy as it whirled around, and then both finally came at him.

He backed up, avoiding the kick, but at the same time, bringing himself closer to the blade, and having less reaction time. So instead of simply backing up, he twisted.

Pivoting on one foot, he turned and ducked down, avoiding the kick as it went right over his head. However, his right arm lurched out, the sickle glistening as sunlight danced across the silver, metallic sheen. He aimed it damn near perfectly, managing to fit the tip of the blade into a groove in the frisbee as it came at him, and then, carefully, redirected it.

Right back at it's owner.

The momentum from Jarren's kick, kept him spinning as Karkat dodged, so when his feet found the ground once more, his back was to the Cancer. He himself pivoted, his right fist tightening as he kept the cycle going, turning to aim a punch at the Cancer. Before at the edge of his senses, he felt his disc flying towards him, and as his head turned, the edge of the Frisbee made contact with the bridge of his nose.

But there was no painful crack, no flinch that would normally accompany such a hit. Instead, the disc whistled as it pivoted directions, doing a full circle around his cranium, before going over his shoulder and following the length of his arm to accmpany the punch.

Karkat scowled in that split second he saw the frisbee avoid harming it's owner, however, he didn't have much time to dwell on it as a fist came flying right at his face. He did really the only thing he could.

He dropped to the ground, feeling the side of the frisbee just almost slam into the top of his head, but still barely miss him, and he quickly rolled to the side, and back up onto his feet.

And as he did so, he had a temporary opening to slash forward, and slice open Jarren's stomach, end the battle now by gutting the highblood.

But he didn't. Instead, he hopped a little bit further away, gaining some distance between himself and the highblood. He was a close range fighter, but until he got the highblood more worn out, he wouldn't risk attacking, just dodging and blocking for now.

An audible growl escaped from Jarren as Karkat dodged again. Little fucker was nimble. The circulatory troll, gave his wrist a twist, bringing his Frisbee back to his side. There it hovered above his hand, and he made a motion that was similar to if he were tossing it up and down. But if one listened, they could hear the sharp whistle as it sped up when it rose, and a low hum as it slowed when lowered.

"Alrigh' crabby," mumbled the troll, and it appeared that he was attempting to think, before he released a hiss of frustration. Clawed hand ripped the frisbee from the air. He jerked that long appendage back, brows knitted in concentration, before he snapped the entire arm forward in one cracking movement, and with a sound like a gunshot, launched the Frisbee forward, heading straight for it's opponent. Jarren focusing as much of his power as feesible, into making his weapon grab unreal momentum that shouldn't be possible for a metal 'toy'.

Karkat braced himself, eyes focusing on the frisbee as it came at him with an unreal amount of speed. This would take severely accurate timing and precision, so he was thankful that he wasn't going to have to focus on Jarren at the same time.

He watched the frisbee, and then, just as it was almost at him, he leaned back, and flung one sickle forward. He caught the damn thing from the bottom groove where it would have been held, and, moving as fast as he could so as to not disrupt the frisbee as much as possible, he twisted, using the edge of the sickle, stuck in the grove, to twitch it down, and straight into the ground.

It stopped cold, but the momentum managed to get it stuck an inch in the hard concrete. Karkat pulled his sickle free from it, frowning a little as he saw the tip of the blade that had been pressed against the spinning surface was now dull and more rounded than it's twin. Fuck he was glad that attack had missed him.

"Oh come on," Jarren hissed, eyes locking temporarily on his Frisbee where it had lodged into the ground, before flickering back to Karkat with a glare. That was twice now that the lowblood had been able to hook those fuckin' curved blades of his at the lips of his weapon. And now... how the hell was he supposed to get that out of the damn pavement?

"Woooow Jarren, talk about dissapointment."

"Cram it T-Sis!" The taller of the two combatants stepped forward carefully now, narrowed eyes locked onto Karkat. In the background, Gamzee simply watched in silence, lazy eyes skimming over both of their stances, though like Jarren, he was focusing on the Cancer, mad smile pulled to it's limit.

Jarren fumed as he stepped closer, shoulder's rolling as those dark violet eyes glared between the two scythes. After all, blades like that could do more damage than fists. Perhaps he could use the fact that the one that had hooked his Frisbee, had it's tip somewhat filed down to his advantage. Hell, how would he do that? His friends were the tacticians, even Gamzee in his half-drugged mind could twist things to his advantage. Screw this, I'm getting a headache, and so he charged forward once more and pulled back to swing. He could care less if he got cut, like that would stop him... unless the crab monkey would stop moving and hold fuckin' still!

Karkat felt a smirk pulling at the edges of his mouth, but refused to let it show itself, as Jarren began to just run at him, and the low blood responded to this not by preparing his stance or backing up, but by charging right back at the highblood.

As they were barely feet from eachother, Jarren made a move to punch, Karkat, on the other hand, rolled. He slid down onto the ground into a small ball, going right under the punch and past Jarren, and then back up onto his feet and twisting around.

The highblood moved to turn around, but Karkat moved faster than him, and lurched forward, freezing in place as the two blades of the sickles stood on either side of his throat, a single twitch enough to decapitate him. Karkat kept him frozen like that from behind, until he heard a voice that signaled him to stop and finally be able to relax a little.

"Alright, that's enough, I think it's clear who the winner is" The teacher roared, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes as he smirked at the two teenage trolls. Now, that was interesting, a wriggler eyed troll defeating a highblood.

Jarren stared wide-eyed, not blinking, not moving, even when the scythes were removed from his throat. What had... that did... that had not just happened. Even when Karkat's footsteps heralded him exiting the ring he just sort of stood, before, "You going to move kid, or what?" Jarren finally blinked, and stared at the teacher, before a furious flush stained his cheeks and an angry scowl twisted his lips. He turned, stalking away from the ring and towards where his friends were waiting.

"Are you suuuure you're a highblood Jarren? Because that performance was rust colored at best." Tansis giggled whispered, nearly in the male's face as he leaned down to snatch his coat from the edge of the ring floor, and took a seat beside them, "Fuck ya twirly step ladder bitch." Gamzee simply smiled up at the two, before those eyes flickered to where Karkat had sat and the teacher spoke.

"Alright class let's review."

The rest of the lecture had been an explanation of the battle strategies both Karkat and Jarren had used, of their strengths, weakness, and what they could have done better. Jarren barely heard half of it, he was glaring holes in the location where his Frisbee was still lodged into the ground. And when the class ended, he stormed over to attempt and dislodge the device from it's concrete prison. Failing horribly, though he continued to try, an incredibly incohered string of nonsense swears being growled from his throat. Tansis came to stand by his side, watching and giggling everytime Jarren sent a glare her way.

Gamzee went to Karkat, "Damn motherfucker, you situated Jarren right in place. Moving like a fuckin' horn-beast, wicked graceful. Where'd you get your think pan around moves like that?" The Capricorn was somewhat shocked. When he had seen who had been chosen, he had thought that some undesirable outcome was about to take place. But not, instead, Karkat had dominated.

"WHY WON'T TIS BULGE SUCKIN' TREE BARK GET OUT O' TEH FUCKIN' GROUND!"

Gamzee ignored the enraged snarl of Jarren in the background.

Karkat listened very intently during class, biting on his lower lip when the mistakes were gone over, determined to improve what he had done wrong, or to improve his defenses.

Even though he had won, he knew better by now than to get cocky, even if he really did want to feel some pride over beating Jarren just because of how snarky the asshole was. So he bit his tongue and shut himself up... until Gamzee came over.

The shorter troll looked up at him, seeming bored again as he stood up to go leave, but was now rooted thanks to conversation. "I've had to learn, or I would have been dead by now" he responded simply in a very dead tone. To be honest, he would really like to leave it at that rather than go into detail about the various attempts on his life by trolls who had found out about his mutant blood color.

"Yeah bro I-" and then he realized was he had been about to say, and those sharp fangs snapped quickly down on his tongue, stopping the words from escaping. However, that did mean he did indeed bite said appendage, and now it was bleeding. Gamzee gave a simple wince, swallowing awkwardly at the iron taste in his mouth, and the feeling of his tongue throbbing and swelling up ever so slightly. Even so, he still spoke, "-I can feel ya there."

"Heeeey Gam! Can you give Jarren a hand? I think he pulled something."

The Capricorn's eyes flickered to one side, one brow raising as the previously swearing circulation troll, was now kneeling to one side, one hand on his back, and spitting out words at such velocity, that to his ear holes, they only came out as hisses and growls. And Gamzee laughed, earning a glare from the double-overed troll.

"Alright Karkat, I guess i'll get my speak on with you later. You probably gotta up and navigate to other learning centers anyway. See ya bro," and then, with a small wave in farewell, he turned, and jog-stumbled over to Jarren's side, raising his eyebrows at Tansis who was being of no help what-so-ever, just standing there smiling and resisting the urge to bust out into laughter.

"Alright, look bro, sometimes you just gotta give the device some love. Gentle, like you're getting some snugs with a newborn," Gamzee kneeled down, wrapping long fingers around the rim of the Frisbee. He gave it a gentle nudge one way, a pull the other, and a light tug, the disc popped from the ground and hissed, returning to it's miniature form. The Capricorn's smile grew, as he turned to hand it to his brother, the likes of which, was glaring with unhindered rage.

"If ah wasn't n pain, an ya didn't have teh ability ta kill meh, ah would knock teh fuckin' paint off yer face." Jarren's face turned an even deeper shade of purple, when Gamzee simply gave a honk at that, Tansis joining in with a small giggle.

The Highblood went over to help his friend, and Karkat took the opportunity to escape. He slipped away from the ring and towards the door, stopping for just a moment to look around for Sollux.

Hmm, seemed like the blind troll had left soon after the duel was done, probably had work to do for the class he had today and wanted to get it done as soon as possible. It was likely that he only had one class on Monday because it was a hard fucking class and he'd need the rest of the day to focus on whatever he needed to get done in it.

Karkat merely shrugged, and continued out the door, heading for his next class. Nothing too difficult, computer science, mainly stuff he already knew, but it was required he take it in order to get into some of the more advanced classes. Unlike Sollux he wasn't a fucking genius hacker and didn't get to skip a bunch of classes.

The computer lab only took two or three minutes to get too, and once Karkat had situated himself in a good seat near the wall, he just sat there until class was over. It was all basic shit he already knew. It was horrendously boring to sit there and listen to shit he already knew, but he managed it. They were given a simple assignment, and then class was over, half an hour ahead of schedule.

Karkat stood up, gathered his things once again, but instead of heading to a new class, he headed back towards the dorms, hurrying along quickly so he didn't have to run into Sollux or anyone else. He didn't have any more classes today.

Thankfully the streets were empty, and so were the halls, so he slipped into his dorm with ease (after fumbling with the door for about ten minutes to shut the damn thing, he really shouldn't have kicked it open and broken the lock) and then set about to work.

The rest of Gamzee's day had been somewhat uneventful. Somewhat, because whenever himself, Tansis, and Jarren met back up with the group, Valus had the circulation troll by his coat collar, and dragged him around the corner of the building. The Capricorn wasn't exactly sure what happened next, but for next half-hour, there was screeching that could be akin to an owl stuck in dishwasher. Then, when Valus and Jarren rejoined them, the male was housing a slowly swelling black eye, and a heavy scowl.

Gamzee was now entering the dorm, after having spent most of the evening hanging out with the afformentioned trolls. It was about that time for him to indulge in another of his 'poison' pies. Tansis had hinted that there was going to be some sort of party later tonight, but the indigo blood wasn't in the particular mood for it. He just felt like going to his room, unpacking his horns, building up a nice and comfy horn pile, honk on down, and write out some new ryhmes. Even though he had lost contact with Tavros those sweeps ago, along with everyone else, he still kept his love for the sick poetry going.

Footsteps brought him throught he wall, and for reasons ubeknowest to him, he stopped before a door with 7 hammered onto it's surface. It took him a few moments, to realize that he was staring at the entrance to Karkat's room. A small frown twitched at the edge of the young subjugglator's lips, a clawed hand rising to rub at the back of his neck, as those irises flickered away, and he moved to his room next door. There was a brief fumbling of keys, number door 8 was unlocked, and Gamzee slipped into his claimed space, depositing his coat absentmindedly upon the ground.

The space of the room slowly filled a vivacious humming, a strange beat that would speed and slow, as Gamzee unzipped duffle bags, two of which were filled to the brim with bicycle styled horns. Before, in an avalanche of honks, they were unceremoniously dumped into a corner of the room. Man, his little noise makers were sure happy to be free from the containment devices.


	21. Home sick

Tuesday and Wednesday passed almost completely without any incident. It was really what most would expect for the first week of College.

Tuesday passed by pretty quickly. Sollux once again ate lunch with Karkat, though this time they didn't invite Gamzee. Karkat was all too glad not to have to go near the table of highbloods again. Sollux was afraid that stealing the highblood away from his 'gang' would invite in some rather negative outcomes. He'd have to be careful with it or else he'd be in deep shit, and it was certainly what he didn't want to be in.

Karkat had three classes, none of which, save for Biochemistry, took a total of the normal two hours of class time. Strife passed by pretty quickly too. With another duel, this one between a girl with green blood and another with yellow (the green blooded girl ended up winning) and then another explanation of the styles of fighting used. Karkat had left before Gamzee, or anyone else for that matter, tried to talk to him.

Wednesday was Karkat's busiest day. He skipped lunch, mostly because Sollux wouldn't be able to hound him to eat thanks to his own classes. Though he did end up lying later when the male angrily texted him asking if he had eaten.

He only had two classes Wednesday, but both were double length, and he was stuck in two different classrooms for around four to three hours each. The first was advanced circuit analysis. It was actually somewhat challenging, and he had to admit he did enjoy it, especially since they were able to work each on their own individual projects rather than partnering up, like his next class.

Computer science was just as boring as before, only this time they had done a very retarded, easy-as-hell project that had required them to break up into teams of three each. Karkat had been stuck with a snobby Jade blood and a green blood that just couldn't shut his fucking mouth about anything and everything. Karkat ended up distracting them with a meaningless task, while he finished the project himself.

Both nights he didn't sleep, though he had passed out for a few hours Wednesday night. And nightmares had made him scream himself awake. It was honestly a miracle that no one fucking woke up and came to see if he was okay or to tell him to shut up.

Thursday, he didn't show up for class.

Karkat didn't show up for class.

Beyond every other thing that could be going through his head, that was the only thought that scampered across Gamzee's think pan. The door's to the gym closed behind him, and although Tansis and Jarren were talking excitedly behind him, he didn't hear a word. They had just gotten out of Strife 101. Ever since his defeat, Jarren had been slamming down on training, going on and on about how he'd show 'that crab fucked gnome headed troll' who was the real badass... or something. Tansis had dominated during her duel today. Gamzee himself, hadn't been chosen to do a spot light duel yet, just basic training.

The grand highblood tried to trace back in his mind, if there was anything he had missed the past two days. The hype surrounding his friends' discover of Karkat's connection to him, had slowly died down. Jarren was the only one that even mentioned the Cancer anymore, the others seemed more than happy to pretend to forget him. Though, it was hard to contain that type of conversation, when the object of said words had not been seen near Gamzee in said time frame. One night, the Capricorn had awoken to the sound of screaming, muffled, so it seemed, by the walls of his room. However, as no other sound accompanied the exclamation of terror, Gamzee had summed it up to be another one of his mental fabrications, and had gone back to sleep.

But now that he thought about it. What if...

The Capricorn stopped in his tracks. On Thursdays he had an evening art class, but he had this uncomfortable feeling twisting in his gut. The Karkat he could remember, didn't skip classes unless he had a reason.

"Yo G-Zee, what's got ya hair inna curl?"

Gamzee looked up as Jarren spoke. He and Tansis had stopped walking about five feet in front of him, after they realized that he was not following.

"Yeah Gaaaam, you've been seriously distracted for the entire class."

"Don't get your worry on brother and sis, I just got a bunch of little stars swirling in my head, that I'm having trouble getting a crush over. I'm gonna go slam some wicked Elixir back in HQ," And Gamzee smiled as he said this, hands slipping into the pockets of his black and white striped hoody, as a gust of fall wind blew past them.

"Alrigh' man, text us later an' tuh let us know yer fine."

Gamzee nodded, waved farewell, and then headed towards the off-campus dorms. He weaved amongst the few humans and trolls, stragglers attempting to make it to class on time, before unlocking the dorm doors, and stepping in to the heated lobby. It was getting colder, and while the Capricorn disliked the drop in temperature, he couldn't help but hope that there would be snow.

In silence he made his way to his dorm, casting a hesitating glance towards door 7, before slipping into his own room. Gamzee had started a habit of leaving his door unlocked, something that he did frequently at his own hive. Normally, if the highblood's door was locked, it meant that something was wrong. By now, Gamzee's dorm was beginning to look like his room back at his hive. The first tower of pie pans was at half completion, his horn pile had sent out little horn scouts to litter his floor, and here an there, an empty bottle of faygo could be seen getting it's hide going.

The Capricorn rolled his shoulders, pulling his metallic, triple spike juggling clubs from his side, leaning them against the wall, before maneuvering towards an end table where he had forgotten his cell phone. Now, he flipped it open, skimming over the topic-less, meaning-less messages sent by his friends and associates... but not finding anything from Sollux that would explain his disappearance. So he selected the contact TwinAramaggedons, and sent a text.

TC: HeY MoThErFuCkEr yOu gOt yOuR KnOw aRoUnD WhAt hApPeNeD To kArKaT? He wAsN't oCcUpYiNg cLaSs tOdAy.

And after the message was sent, he sat down and stared at his phone... and stared... for ten minutes he just watched the cellular device. Anticipating the thing to vibrate at any minute, or to sing his text message ringtone. But nothing. Brows wrinkled together, as Gamzee felt that odd feeling twist up again, that notion that something was probably wrong. He crawled over to his refrigeration device, pulled out a slime roll (something he had created for those days when he didn't feel like baking, or didn't have the time), and popped it in his mouth. Then he continued to sit on the floor, stretching his legs out in front of him, as he leaned against the wall.

Sollux was probably in class, that had to be why he wasn't responding right? Or perhaps his cellular device was taking a vacation, getting it's chill on some nice beach... where it got kidnapped by sea dwellers and was being held hostage. Either way, Sollux had not responded, and Gamzee was getting worried.

So it was with little memory or fanfare, that Gamzee found himself in front of Karkat's door, barefoot, with his coat still on, and two faygos in his hand. Then his hand was moving, and the bottle was knocking against the door in replace of his hand.

"Karkat?"

Karkat was completely unaware that anyone was outside his door, or calling for him, on that subject.

He was too busy being where he had been practically all day, hunched in front of his fucking waste receptacle and heaving his damn think pan out. He had only actually vomited twice, a mixture of stomach acid and what little food he had eaten. But he kept gagging like his stomach was trying to bring up something else, which wasn't there.

The night before, he had tried to eat. And it had proven to be a huge mistake, especially when he fell asleep later, and again woke up due to nightmares. Only he had felt horrible, way too hot and way too cold at the same time, like he was burning on the outside but freezing on the inside. He was shivering too, even though his body didn't seem to be too sure if it was cold or warm.

But he was used to it, being ill was no uncommon occurrence.

He leaned over the toilet again, feeling his stomach twist into an uncomfortable knot, and all of his organs rebelled in a massive heave. A little bit of stomach acid forced itself out of his mouth, and spilled down into the toilet, at which point, Karkat spat any remains out, and flushed it, swallowing deeply as he felt the inner lining of his throat burning.

The door to Karkat's room had swung wide open at just the first couple of 'knocks' with one of Gamzee's faygo bottles. Oh yeah, his bro had broken it the first day he had seen him. So it was with little trepidation that he entered the Cancer's room, the likes of which was surprisingly... skeletal. There were little to no decorations, and everything was spotless, save for a few romcoms placed next to the television. No sign of the room's resident... until a hacking sound caught his attention.

Gamzee's head gave a tilt to one side, focusing on the sound, and slowly connecting the dots. Karkat sounded sick. A frown touched the side of his lips, though it soon flickered back to a lazy smile as he came to the center of Karkat's floor, facing his bathroom door, and plopped down cross-legged while setting the two bottles of faygo in front of him. Then he waited, staring unblinking and patient at the door for Karkat to make his appearance. If he was sick, maybe some of his sweet elixir would make his bro feel better.

After a few moments, Karkat was pretty sure his stomach had finally decided that it was done. He still felt absolutely fucking horrible, but that weird feeling you got when you just knew you were going to vomit your insides out was gone now, thank jegus.

Somewhat shakily, he pushed himself up off the floor where he had been kneeling, using the sink nearby to steady himself as he got up onto his feet. He swallowed harshly again, his protein shoot throbbing in retaliation, but he ignored it, and decided to go and try to drink some water.

He turned towards the bathroom door and flung it open, taking three steps before he noticed someone sitting on the floor, and nearly jumped out of his skin, actually lurching backwards and grabbing the door frame as he blinked, and those bright red eyes focused on Gamzee with the most confused look in the world plastered all over his face.


	22. Red Eyes

"What the fuck are you doing in my dorm room?" He demanded, looking almost like a cat that had been startled.

Gamzee's eyes gave a slow blink as he looked up at Karkat. Before he actually laughed, a somewhat muffled sound as he tried to hold it back, because damn, he could almost picture the back of Karkat's neck bristling, and imagine him with a tail, having it all puffed out in his shock. His pupils even seemed to dial-woah. In physical appearance, Gamzee's expression didn't alter or change, still holding that smile that was widened further by his clown get-up. But damn, he hadn't gotten a chance to see Karkat's eyes before he vanished, before they turned. They were miraculous, so rich they almost seemed to be glowing, a color that suited him.

"You weren't in motherfuckin' class today, and I was getting all thinking that you weren't the type that would get some skip time scheduled. So I thought I'd swing by, bring some faygo and see if a bro was alright." he reached a finger to point at one of the bottles, but reached to far and nearly knocked it over, the same hand reaching to grab hold of it's neck before it tipped and putting it back in place, "Your door was all swung open, getting it's invitation going, so I figured I'd chill until your porcelain business was done."

"yeah it swung open because I fucking broke it, that doesn't mean you can just walk in here, what if I was naked or something?" Karkat pointed out with a hiss, but managed to sooth his ruffled feathers, so to speak, and stepped out a little further from the doorway.

"I've been a little sick, it was bad enough that it kept me from going to class, is it that big of a deal? Everyone gets sick now and then" he snapped, a frown on his face now as he watched Gamzee almost tip over a bottle of... Faygo. What an absolutely unappealing name.

"I am not drinking that"

"Why not brother? This shit is liquefied miracles, make your cranium sing, and your ears thump, honk," and to emphasize his point, he picked up one of the drinks, popped it open with a hiss, and tilted his head back. Gamzee drained half the bottle, before he pulled away with audible sigh of content and balanced the partially drank container on his knee, "You can't get a good slam or chill going without one."

"Also, if you were getting your freedom away from some cloth oppression, then I woulda walked out and let you have your time. I get some brother's like fleshy secrets to be coded and locked up," in hindsight, maybe coming over to visit a Karkat who couldn't remember, while he had a refreshed high on pie was probably not a good idea. To late now, so Gamzee reached forward, plucked up the unopened bottle, and waved it in Karkat's direction with a too-wide smile and half-open eyes.

Karkat stared at Gamzee with a very hard expression on his face for a few seconds, before he finally gave in and walked over. Okay. it was just soda, it couldn't be too bad right? Still though, he did bite down on his bottom lip as he took a seat on the floor and swiped the bottle from Gamzee's hand.

He was pretty sure that even if it did manage to not get spit back up, he'd be throwing it up again later. He stared at the bottle for nearly half a minute, before finally opening it, and pausing for just a split second. Oh fuck it, he rose the bottle up to his face and quickly took a drink before he could talk himself out of it.

"BLUH!" He spurted, shoving the bottle back at Gamzee as he spit out the mouthful of horrendous tasting liquid out of his mouth and all over the carpet to his right. He could honestly care less, anything to get this shit out of his mouth.

Gamzee resisted another laugh that threatened to bubble out of his lips. Well, his response to faygo hadn't changed, the taller male could vaguely recall when they were younger and he had talked Karkat into trying the elixir then. His reaction, did mimic that memory to near perfection. Instead of laughing, the Capricorn simply smiled as he took the drink back with light fingers, brought it to his lips, and downed the rest of the bottle in one breath, before placing the empty container on his other knee, "Sorry about that bro, not everyone can handle the elixir's wicked gifts I guess."

And then the indigo-eyed troll's attention was skimming around Karkat's room, flickering from bare wall, to bare wall, "Man Karkat, your walls look all sorts of lonely. You should latch on some hangings."

"That is the nastiest thing I have ever-" Karkat started to say, but was interrupted as Gamzee had inspected his dorm, making a comment about how bare it looked. Well... he guessed it did. "I don't have many things to hang on them" he stated simply, pulling his knees up to his chest as those red, red eyes narrowed somewhat.

It was true, in a way. The only personal things in the room were probably his bag of clothes on the dresser and the movies by the TV. He didn't have many items that meant enough to him for him to bring them with him. Nothing meant enough to him for it to be important enough.

Gamzee's eyebrows furrowed together at that, his face twisting to form... a confused expression that made little sense what so ever. But apparently, he seemed to be trying to think. His hand sought out the half-empty bottle of faygo balancing on his knee opposite to the empty one. He missed a couple of times, before he captured the neck of the elusive thing and brought it up to his lips for a sip. Before an idea escaped through the haze and brought itself to the front his mind. His head turned, faygo half-way to his speak hole, "Then I'll make you something. Paint a motherfuckin' masterpiece with some serious colors dancing across a happy canvas," and he downed the rest of the second drink, and fell onto his back, bottle two falling off of his knee, as he held bottle one up and was examining it like a sort of odd trophy, while a large nearly goofy smile flipped over his lips.

"Any requests? If not, I'll just get my guess rolling down creation hill."

A very flat look crossed Karkat's face, a look that was somewhere between irritated, confused, and tired. He would never understand this guy, he was sure.

"I don't need a damn picture to put on the fucking wall. I'm only going to be here for a few years, it's not like it's my house or anything" he spat, biting on his lower lip. "and I definitely don't need a crazy clown-troll to paint a picture for me" He added, his voice a little bit quieter as he swallowed painfully again, feeling his stomach start to argue with him about being in the main room and not hunched over the toilet.

From his position on the floor Gamzee watched Karkat in silence, those indigo eyes unblinking, as if he were some sort of computer attempting to process the information that was given him, before he gave a smile and a shrug, "Alright, I can get situated with a guess picture. Make you something real nice, pretty as hell." and it was as if he hadn't heard a word Karkat had said, until he added on to the end, "And bro, that's still a motherfuckin' sweep. Time can be getting it's escape going, but we still gotta travel it. Until then, these rooms represent mini's of our hives, this navigational location is home, no sense not gettin' situated in comfort zone... you need some water?"

Karkat wondered if Gamzee only heard what he wanted to hear, or just completely ignored him and decided to paint something anyway. But he kinda zoned out, focusing solely on keeping his stomach under control, when the other male continued to speak, only actually getting back into listening when Gamzee said something about how the rooms were mini-versions of their hives, and then asked him if he needed some water.

He hated to have to ask for it, but he honestly felt like if he stood up he was going to bee-line straight to the bathroom again, so instead of getting angry about it and loosing hold over his nausea, he just slowly nodded his head, lips pressed tightly together.

"Alright motherfucker, just keep your chill going I'll be right back." And the significantly taller troll sat up, set bottle one of the two faygo containers beside the second, before wobbling to a stand. When his back straightened, he took a few steps, feeling briefly dizzy as there was a rush of blood to his head. Gamzee only gave a brief pause for his eyes to come back into focus, before he made his way to Karkat's kitchen area. Now, a task was laid before him, a hunt for the drinking containers.

Cabinet after cabinet was opened and explored, until he found what he had been seeking. Fingers wrapped steady and solid around the glass. After all, he didn't want to drop it or make a mess in his bro's kitchen. There was a brief battle with the sink, as the male attempted to figure out which knob released the hot water, and which one the cool. By the end of it all, Gamzee was victorious, one cup of chill water for one sick Karkles. Hopefully some sippage of this natural elixir would help the Cancer feel a bit better, as the Capricorn stepped back through the doorway, and to his previously occupied room.

Karkat sighed, burying his face in his hands for a moment as a migraine began to come on, or rather, get worse. His fingers rubbed his eyes irritably. Goddamn, those fucking contacts really did a number on them, they still itched even though he took them... out...

He didn't have his contacts in.

At once he felt a swift chill run through his entire body. The highblood knew his blood color now, was he just pretending not to notice? Was he going to tell everyone? Karkat felt his heart speed up, pounding fearfully against his chest and a burst of adrenaline running through his system, chasing away whatever illness was plaguing him, if just for a moment.

He moved up to his feet, eyes wide as he heard Gamzee tinkering with the sink in there, and he padded silently to his bag, pulling out the sickles and then, just as the highblood came through the door way back into the room, he was already moving in front of the door.

He held out one hand and stopped Gamzee from moving any further forward, and held one sickle at the male's throat, bright red eyes a mixture of fear and frustration.


	23. Reestablishing Trust

Karkat shook ever so slightly as he held the sickle to Gamzee's throat, staring straight into the troll's indigo colored eyes. It was natural, he knew that, for highbloods to kill low bloods, it was just their nature that made them the way they were. In fact, the lower your blood caste was, the more dangerous the world was to you. If all trolls survived to adulthood, low bloods would dominate simply by sheer numbers. That was why no one cared if they died, hell, even wanted them to die. Red was the lowest, and was looked down upon with disgust and hate by most others. Karkat's blood color wasn't even supposed to be on the hemospectrum. He was a mutant, a freak, and it was only by hiding it as well as he could over all these years that he managed to survive.

And now it had been found out, by one of the highest blooded trolls he had ever seen, on top of that. Had Gamzee already thought of ways to kill him? Was he acting calm only to get out and tell his highblood friends later? Did he decide not to wait and just poison the water? The thoughts wheeled through Karkat's mind, making him feel sick and dizzy again.

He opened his mouth to say something, but for a moment, nothing came out, just silence, and he realized he had no idea what he had planned to say. He quickly regathered his thoughts, forcing his fear down his throat. "You can try to act calm all you want, but I'm not a fucking idiot, I know you know my blood color. Did you poison the water? Call your highblood friends while you were in there so you can all have a fucking party killing me?" He demanded. He had attempted to make his voice sound harsh and emotionless, without any fear or mercy, but instead it came out too quickly, too hastily and panicked for there to not be fear laced in each word.

Gamzee was silent, frozen as he saw the realization in Karkat's eyes, the fear in those brilliant irises... and then he felt a sickle near his throat. There was a distinct change in the Capricorn. Hazed indigo see holes cleared, that smile turned flat, and the very air about him choked into silence. He didn't answer, just stared while the yellow that framed his pupils, began to become stained in red. In his mind there was screaming, there was laughter, there was slaughter, then his eyes closed. A brief shudder passed over the highblood's body, and a breath was slowly released. Control. When his eyes opened, they were hazed and the the yellow around his irises was consistent again. But that smile didn't return to his face, not yet. Because although he knew that Karkat couldn't remember, although this Cancer didn't know _him_, it still hurt. Dammit it hurt to think that Karkat would even consider him doing something like that.

Still, he did not respond, not in the way a normal, reasonable troll would. Gamzee moved, his arm far to smooth in it's action, bringing the glass of freshly poured water to his lips, and taking three audible gulps, not drinking all of the liquid but downing at least half. Then, after he lowered the glass, he leaned the side of his neck against the hooked scythe. The sharp metal bit into the side of his neck, though Gamzee didn't even flinch, even as that rich indigo blood dripped down the side of his throat, tasting the air with the slight tang of iron. Those rich eyes remained frozen straight into the unreal red of Karkat's, "I'm not like those motherfuckers Karkat. When I kill, it's because I can't fuckin' control it. I can't all up and prove it, because you don't know me, and I'm not visiting that carousel again." Gamzee paused, before reaching with his free hand to his back pocket, pulling out his phone, and offering it to the shorter male so that he could see the proof for himself, while the hint of a smile, of a much safe Gamzee, twitched at the corner of his lips.

Karkat stared as if dumbfounded as Gamzee took three large drinks of water, proving to him that it wasn't poisoned, and then leaned far enough forward to where the blade cut into his skin just enough to draw some thin lines of blood. He flinched slightly, something about the sight of the other troll's blood making him even more queasy. He had always been hemophobic, though mostly of his own blood, that didn't mean he didn't like seeing other people's blood. But it was something a bit beyond that, almost like guilt, but he wasn't sure why.

He heard what the other troll said, and seemed to consider it. Dammit. He didn't want to have to kill Gamzee, if he decided not to trust him, he honestly wasn't too sure if he could. He felt like he might hate himself even more if he did. He swallowed, still shaking a little, as his eyes flickered to the phone, and he slowly realized that he did trust the other troll, even though he barely fucking knew the guy.

This was so dumb, but he pulled the blade back, letting his hand drop down to his side as his gaze went to the floor. He knew full well that this could result in his death, but he also knew, though he didn't really have any proof, that he could trust the purple blooded troll. "I'm sorry... it's just... fuck. Everyone else, everyone who fucking finds out..." he sputtered, his voice fading out as he bit down on his lower lip.

He resisted, as an urge to hug Karkat, to tell his brother, his best friend that everything was okay, that nothing would happening to him. Just as the Cancer had done for him sweeps ago, just as a moirail would have done. But he didn't, because through his still half-sober mind, he knew that there was a chance it would not be received well. That to Karkat, still, they had not known each other for even a week. The knowledge of that, left Gamzee with this odd, hollow feeling in his chest, even as that relaxed smile fell back over his painted face, and he gave a step forward and offered the glass to Karkat, nudging his shoulder with it.

"It's a miraculous thing I'm not everyone then. That'd be one mirthful hell of a motherfucking headache."

Karkat took the glass of water, his mood seeming to have rapidly changed at the Highblood's words, and downed what was left in the glass before turning around, and climbing up onto his bed, standing on the edge of it so that he towered at least a foot or two above Gamzee, and pointed down at the purple blooded troll.

"You know, this means that I demand you keep it a secret. Despite how fucking wriggler brained it is to think so, I feel like I can trust you with it" he nearly shouted it, arms crossed over his chest as he nodded his head in a somewhat forceful manner. He opened his mouth to say something else, but the sudden green flush of sickness over his face, and the loud, almost angry sounding gurgle from his stomach stopped him short, and for a few seconds, he stood very still, looking like he might pass out. And then he moved, lightning quick, down off the bed, and towards the bathroom, where he kneeled over the toilet and started heaving.

That had been... rather anti-climatic. But as Karkat flew past him and zipped into the bathroom like a greased up hoof beast, the smile on Gamzee's lips, reached his eyes. _Always best friend, not even when I travel up to the mirthful messiahs, will your secret pass out of my speak hole._He remembered a similar request, and that, served to cover up that hollow hole. Not fill it, but certainly hiding it was easy enough. Gamzee was good at hiding things like that. His ear ducts gave a turn, listening as his brother was emptying his nearly empty stomach again. He probably shouldn't have stood up so high and made himself dizzy.

Humming, the Capricorn walked across the floor, picked up the two empty faygo bottles, and began to do an awkward sort of juggle with them. Not a difficult task with only two of the devices to focus on. He kept his hands and the bottles moving, as he went to lean against the wall next to the door way, not stopping the steady rhythm that he now hummed along to. Whenever there was a pause in the heaving, he spoke once more, "Need a towel?"

Karkat managed to get his protein shoot all upset and burning again, and growled to himself as he leaned over the toilet, reaching up and flushing it again for probably the fifth time today, he kinda forgot what with Gamzee's intrusion.

"No, I don't need a towel, I'm in the fucking bathroom anyway" He shouted back, desperately trying to comfort the rumble in his stomach. He was probably going to be in here for another few hours, and there was no point of Gamzee hanging around. Besides, he had already let out one secret today like a fucking idiot, he didn't plan on revealing his sleep disorder as well.

"I'm probably going to be in here for a fucking while, so you can just go back to your room" He called out, holding back another heave by biting on his tongue and concentrating on the small stabs of pain instead of the nausea.

"Alright bro, hope you get your health downloaded back into your system." At this point, Gamzee felt like he was pushing his luck. Everything had gone so well so far... well yeah, he had a cut on his neck, but technically he did that to himself. It was curious, that most injuries he obtained were self-inflicted. "If you need anything, I'm gonna be using an ink stick to scribble down some slams, just give a couple knocks on the wall, and I'll navigate back over. Sweet Z's brother."

The door to Karkat's room somewhat-closed behind him (the thing was still broken after all), and it was only then did he realize how late it had become. A human couple passed by him, dodging the troll when he stepped into the hall, one shooting a glare, the other a nervous 'excuse us'. And then, almost instantaneously, as if it had been waiting for it, his phone gave a loud buzz, the handle TwistedRepetition, appearing across the screen.

TR: HeY MaN,, EverythinG CooL?

There was a momentary pause, before clawed fingers danced over his keypad.

TC: FoR NoW MoThErFuCkEr, sHiT's sTaRtInG To tUrN ThEiR SiGhT HoLeS SkYwArD.


	24. Another puzzle piece appears

**AN**

Shhhh, Eren doesn't know I'm slipping in an Author's note here. ; D  
>Hey everyone it's Aussie! I wanted to thank you all so much for the lovely reviews. 83<br>And yes Amaya-nights, Gamzee does indeed still have issues of his own.  
>He is still abso-freaking-lutely insane after all. : D Which will be... apparent in the this chapter.<p>

... what, we wouldn't make everything go smooth so soon into the story.  
>That would be far to easy. B3<p>

LOTS OF LOVE! 83 ~Aussie B.

* * *

><p>His dreams had been a bit more... noisy than usual. Gamzee had long grown used to the voices in his head, the images that flickered across his mind, the sounds, the thoughts that felt like memories. He thought he was used to them when he was younger, but it turns out that that was not the case, after the first time his mind snapped. Indigo eyes slipped open, the brightly ringed irises peering around the inside of his dorm's upward standing recupracoon. The male had no need for an alarm clock, ever since he was wriggler he had always awoken at the same time. No matter how late or how early he settled down in the muscle relaxing slime, the result was always the same.<p>

Gamzee stretched, the sloshing and squelch from the sopor whispering in the quiet room as the green sludge clung to him, and the space his moving body had occupied. His head dipped down, horns coming through the opening first, before hands and shoulders followed... and he lost his balance and tumbled out of the cocoon, naked on the floor with slime still getting it's cuddle going with him. He gave a honking laugh, pushing himself up and releasing a loud serious of pops along his spine. Gamzee's recupracoon had always been an odd sort of thing, tricky to get into, tricky to get out of. Yet for reasons unknown, he had never changed it, nor had he shown any particular dislike for it.

The Capricorn came to a sleepy stand, a yawn stretching across his lips, before a loud bing, made him pause, and look over at his pesterchum. Last night he had left his husktop open on the computer desk. What was strange, was that none of his friends were up this early in the morning, so what was going on?

Gamzee walked slowly over to his huktop, stifling another yawn as he navigated to the swivel chair. plopping down and ignore the slime that dripped off his arms and... well, nearly his entire body.

- - tenaciousObsession [TO] began pestering terminallyCapricious [TC] - -

TO: = : (  
>TC: WoAh bRo. wHy aRe yOu gEtTiNg a cHaT GoInG So eArLy.<br>TC: WaIt  
>TC: Do i aLl uP AnD KnOw yOu?<br>TO: I hate yon  
>TC: WeLl tHaTs sOmE SeRiOuS WoRdS FrOwNiNg sTrAnGeR<br>TO: Yon gnys are always so meau  
>TO: Always messiug thiugs np<br>TC: MeSsInG Up?  
>TC: BrO, I DoN't tHiNk mY PaN's uNdErStAnDiNg<br>TO: MeSsInG Up My GaMe  
>TO: = : (<br>TC: WoAh, tHaTs a lItTlE TrIpPy  
>TC: wHaT GaMe?<br>TO: MY GAME  
>TO: THE ONE I ALWAYS PLAY WITH HIM<br>TC: YoU KiNdA SoUnD LiKe a gIrL I OnCe kNeW. ExCePt sHe dIdN't gEt  
>TC: HiM?<br>TO: Except she didu't get what?  
>TO: = : o<br>TC: Oh sOrRy aBoUt tHaT. I GuEsS I GoT A LiTtLe dIsTrAcTeD.  
>TC: ShE DiDn'T GeT HeR CoPy aRoUnD OtHeRs wOrDs. : o)<br>TO: I DON'T COPY  
>TO: it's really meau to say that I do = : (<br>TO: See yon are all jnst awfnl  
>TC: SoRrY BrO I DiDn'T MeAn tO AlL GeT AnY OfFeNsE GoInG. WhAt wOuLd yOu cAlL It?<br>TO: I JuSt LiKe ThE WaY DiFfErEnT TaLkInG FeElS  
>TO: Heeheehee<br>TC: YeAh i gUeSs i cAn wRaP SoMe uNdErStAnDiNg aRoUnD ThAt hOnK  
>TO: uuuuunnnnnn<br>TO: Uow Yon weut aud got me all distracted  
>TC: HaHaHaHa, sOrRy bRo<br>TO: HeeHeeHee  
>TC: YoU WeRe jUsT MeSsAgInG To gEt mE In tHe kNoW ThAt i'M MaKiNg yOu fEeL SoMe hAtE?<br>TO: Kiuda!  
>TC: WhAt?<br>TO: I actnally had a qnestiou, jnst sometimes I get mad aud forget  
>TO: WHERE ARE YOU?<br>TC: I'm gEtTiNg a cHiLl gOiNg aT My hUsKtOp, jUsT WoKe fRoM CrAzY DrEaM LaNd.  
>TO: uooooooooo<br>TO: I meaut where are yon?  
>TO: My toy got lost<br>TO: Aud I'm tryiug to fiud it  
>TC: HoW WoUlD GeTtInG YoUr kNoW ArOuNd mY LoCaTiOn hElP YoU FiNd yOu'Re tOy?<br>TO: BECAUSE I KNOW YOU'RE NEAR IT  
>TO: I jnst do, so I ueed to kuow where yon are<br>TO: So that I cau come get it back  
>TO: = : )<br>TC: No oFfEnSe bRo, bUt i dOn'T EvEn gOt mY KnoW InTo wHo yOu aRe.  
>TO: I dou't thiuk it really matters, I jnst waut my toy back<br>TC: LiTtLe sInG VoIcEs aRe tHrOwInG Up lItTle rEd lIgHtS.  
>TO: I jnst waut my toy back<br>TO: TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE  
>TC: I CaN GeT BeHiNd wAnTiNg tO Get<br>TC: HoLd a sEc bRo  
>TC: YoU SaId sOmEtHiNg aBoUt a hIm aNd tOy? YoUr tOy a lIvInG EnTiTy?<br>TO: Well it breaths and stnff!  
>TO: aud it looks so cnte wheu it's scared<br>TO: = : )  
>TC: uH-HuH ThAt'S OdD. BuT SoMe tHiNgS Do lOoK PrEtTy fUcKiN AdOrAbLe gEtTiNg sOmE ShAkEs gOiNg.<br>TC: StIlL BrO, It'S KiNd oF StRaNgE  
>TO: Maybe if I describe it aud see if yon've seeu it?<br>TC: ThAt yOu'D HaVe mY HaNdLe aNd sOmE MyStErIoUs mOtHeRfUcKiNg kNoW ThAt yOuR ToY Is iN My lOcAtIoN.  
>TC: YeAh oKaY.<br>TO: I kuow that it's jnst the coolest shade of red!  
>TO: Heeheehee<br>TC: ReD? LiKe aN HuMaN ApPlE TrEaT?  
>TO: Ynp~!<br>TC: MaN, A LoT Of oBjEcTs aRe gReEdY AbOuT BeInG ReD  
>TC: AnYtHiNg eLsE?<br>TO: I dou't thiuk so. It's beeu a loug time siuce I last saw it = : (  
>TO: Oh, my toy wasu't greedy abont beiug red<br>TO: Iu fact it tried to hide it  
>TO: So selfish<br>TC: WhY WoUlD YoUr tOy bE HiDiNg iT's rEd lIkEnEsS?  
>TO: it didu't like it<br>TO: Bnt I did!  
>TO: Paiuted the walls the same color he was!<br>TC: PaInTiNg iS A GrEaT WaY To sHoW A MoThErFuCkEr mIrAcLe cOlOrS.  
>TO: HeeHeeHee<br>TO; I kuow right?  
>TO: Bnt he didu't like it = : (<br>TO: So I had to make him like it~!  
>TC: HoW Do yOu mAkE A FuCkEr lIkE SoMeThInG?<br>TO: Yon beat it iuto them~!  
>TO: Hee Hee Hee<br>TC: WoAh  
>TO: Bnt he euded np gettiug away<br>TO: Aud I kuow that he's where yon are  
>TO: SO WHERE ARE YOU?<br>TO: I conldu't fiud it for the lougest time yon kuow  
>TC: CaN I GeT My aSsUmPtIoN ArOuNd tHaT ThE PaInT YoU UsEd fOr yOuR WiCkEd cAnVaS WaS BloOd?<br>TO: ynp~!  
>TO: Conldu't get the color auy other way<br>TC: HaVeN't hEaRd oF MaNy bRoThErS WhO AcTuAlLy tOoK HuMaN's oR RuSt bLoOdS As pEtS.  
>TO: Uoooooooo<br>TO: It wasu't a rnst blood!  
>TO: It was too pretty to be called Rnst = : )<br>TC: So hE's a hUmAn?  
>TO: Uope~!<br>TC: ReD BlOoD BuT NoT RuSt oR HuMaN  
>TC: who the fuck are you<br>TO: Yes~!  
>TO: HeeHeeHee<br>TC: i thought i said  
>TC: WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU<br>TO: Uooooo~ I was askiug the qnestious first~!  
>TC: not anymore motherfucker<br>TC: NOT ANYMORE  
>TC: what do you know<br>TC: and what the fuck do you want  
>TO: HeeHeeHee~!<br>TO: I jnst waut my Toy back = : )  
>TC: HE'S NOT YOUR MOTHERFUCKIN' TOY<br>TC: COME NEAR HIM AND I'LL MAKE A FUCKIN CONSTELLATION OUT OF YOUR motherfucking insides.  
>TO: OOhhhh~ HeeHeeHee<br>TC: fuck i see what your doing  
>TC: I GOT MY FUCKING SEE GOING<br>TC: this is all some part of your fucking game  
>TC: i aint motherfucking playing<br>TO: I uever asked yon to play!  
>TC: but your forcing him to play or got force going into<br>TO: WHERE ARE YOU  
>TO: WHERE ARE YOU<br>TO: WHERE ARE YOU  
>TO: = : (<br>TC: YOU FUCKED UP HERE PUNCH-LINE BLOODED MOTHERFUCKER  
>TC: if you draw him into the game, you draw me in too<br>TC: YOU MOTHERFUCKING GET ME TOO  
>TO: Where are yon<br>TC: step right up motherfucker thats not how the carnival game goes  
>TC: you have to pay the price to pick the prize<br>TC: PAY THE MOTHERFUCKING PRICE TO GET THE MOTHERFUCKING PRIZE  
>TC: just try and find us<br>TO: Oh  
>TO: I will<br>TO: = : )  
>TC: good i look forward to painting a motherfucking picture with your blood<br>TC: I WAS RUNNING LOW ON FUCKING STARDUST  
>TC: running motherfucking low<br>TO: HeeHeeHee  
>TO: I dou't really care abont yon<p>

- - tenaciousObsession logged off - -

Near the end of the conversation, Gamzee had manuevered to his feet, saying the words as he typed them, snarling at the screen. And then the other... then it logged off. Once yellow rimmed eyes were a hellish red, surrounding those violent indigo irises that were all but glowing in the male's rage, the base of his horns, were reflecting that same human blooded color. And Gamzee was shaking, and he wasn't breathing. Then both fists came down upon the keyboard, and there was an electrical pop, a brief shock that violated the entire length of his arms and numbed his fingers. A cracking sound, the smell of smoke, and the screen went black.

"FUCK! Fuck fuck motherfucking fuck honk FUCK!" Gamzee shoved himself away from the innocent demolished husk top, and without realization, without any comprehension of why, he found himself with a spiked juggling club in hand, and his foot steps towards the door. And there was honking. And there was laughter. And there was blood dripping from the ceiling like rain. And the Capricorn stopped, arms still shaking as he dropped his weapon with a loud clunk to the ground, hand rising to cradle his head he fought it. Fought the little clown dressed imps stabbing into his mind. Fought the screams that currently sounded beautiful to him, fought the sound of blood gurgling in the throats of dying victims, before it flowed from their lips like a fountain.

There was a door slamming, the sound of an abulation trap running, and a slow murmur of honks from the bathroom. The running water rinsed the remaining slime, seeming to barely breach that tangle the male called his hair. The sounds of the horn, was coming from one of his noise makers as he held it in his mouth, biting on occasion with the back of his head pressed to the tile walls. He could barely think straight, even as the rage began to clear, leaving him feeling numb, leaving his arms having the sensation of noodles, and his legs just heavy things attached to his body. And then the water was killed, the horn spit onto the floor, bathroom exited, to be re-entered again, though this time, a phone was present, and a text was sent to a certain mustard blooded troll.

TC: know anyone by the handle tenaciousobsession

He waited for a response, indigo eyes looking away from the screen to stare silently at his reflection. What watched him back, looked like a stranger. The water had washed the rest of his make-up off, revealing his face bare of the fake smile... and bare of a real one as well.

Sollux had literally just gotten out of the shower when his phone began to vibrate angrily on his desk. He ignored it for just a minute or two, quickly getting dried off and dressed before he walked over and flipped it open, surprised to see that Gamzee was up this early. Well not see, sense more like it, but whatever.

TA: N0, d0n't think I have, d0 y0u need me t0 l00k it up?  
>TC: yeah whoever that is is in the know about karkat honk HONK<br>TC: i need to know as soon as possible  
>TC: motherfuckers got me teetering on a fucking seesaw<br>TC: honk

Sollux paused, staring at the phone as his eyebrows furrowed, from what he could tell Gamzee was texting, it seemed awfully familiar. But he couldn't place his finger on it, he waited a few seconds, before a cold chill ran down the back of his spine, and he sat down, his attention now completely on the phone.

TA: Please tell me that they didn't talk mixing up u and n.

Gamzee blinked, before those brows of his came down into a tight wrinkle. He stood up straighter, staring at that last sentence that was sent to him in silence, watching the words as if he expected to jump up and do a magic trick, as he slowly walked out of the bathroom, navigated around his desk, turned around, and fell backwards into his horn pile. Metal, rubber, and honks everywhere, but Gamzee seemed to ignore it.

TC: yeah the motherfucker did  
>TC: how are you in the know?<p>

TA: Bl0ck her crazy ass right away.  
>TA: I have n0 idea h0w she's c0nnected t0 things, t0 be h0nest.<br>TA: I've never seen her in pers0n, but ab0ut tw0 sweeps ag0 she c0ntacted me  
>TA: She was just babbling at first and I th0ught she was just s0me insane tr0ll, and then she started talking about Karkat.<br>TA: I didn't have any ch0ice but t0 destr0y her c0mputer  
>TA: And then I set up firewalls t0 prevent her fr0m c0ntacting either of us.<br>TA: I kn0w I sh0uld be trying t0 figure 0ut h0w she's c0nnected.  
>TA: But she scares the shit 0ut 0f me, Gamzee, and I 0nly talked t0 her f0r three minutes.<p>

TC: no  
>TC: i wont block her<br>TC: WONT MOTHERFUCKING DO IT  
>TC: bitchtits may try to contact me again<br>TC: especially if she finds this place to keep her motherfucking game rolling  
>TC: IM NOT FUCKING SCARED<br>TC: ill user her blood for a miracle sacrifice to the messiahs  
>TC: get a motherfucking boiling flesh pit going<p>

Gamzee stopped texting, eyes looking towards one wall, unseeing. He wasn't breathing again, before he set his phone to one side. Not having forgotten it, but he needed both of his hands to pull himself from the horn pile. The Capricorn was having issues with sitting still, and the rapid switch from calm to rage was not helping his tattered sanity. He tried to focus on what the other highblood's had told him, what they had taught him to do to try and calm down. It barely worked, and Gamzee found himself stalking towards his kitchen, ripping open the door to his cooling apparatus, and pulling out about four golf ball sized slime rolls. He popped two in his mouth at once, the slightly hardened green sludge cracking as he bit into them. The liquidized filling dripped out of the edges of his lips as he swallowed copious amounts of the sopor, waiting for a moment, until a sudden wave of that mind numbing haze fell over him, and he laughed at the feeling.

* * *

><p>Yellowed eyes closed, a light smile played upon her smooth, gray skinned face. She sat there, in the darkness, only the light of her husktop illuminating her face, making her visible at all. Everything else was cast in shadows so deep that it might as well be invisible. But she was comfortable like this, she could wander in the darkness for hours and not feel frustrated in the least. No, finding things here was a surprise, the darkness kept their delicious secrets from her, she didn't mind.<p>

She reached up one slender hand, gently taking a strand of long, black hair and twirling it around her fingers as she stared at the screen, having logged out of the conversation, but rereading it, over and over and over and over again. Her eyes closed halfway as she tilted her head to one side, leaning against the palm of her hand and using it to prop her head up. From behind, something moved, it was hidden in the darkness, but it could be heard; the sickeningly wet, warm sound of something sliding across the ground. The noise of a maggot crawling through rotten root, the noise of food being swallowed and crushed by a snake's throat.

A hand broken through the darkness, or rather, something that resembled a hand. The fingers were short, but thin, stubby little things, with incredibly long, bone like extensions that stretched out nearly a foot from the actual fingers, making them seem long and skeletal, something unnatural. Two of those claws clicked together, resting on her shoulder while the others hung down, absolutly motionless. She raised her own hand, unmolested and perfect, and rested it on the claws, the smile growing until it became something akin to a crazed grin.

"We will find you, just be patient"


	25. Peaceful Sleep and Arguments

Karkat raised up one hand, fingers clutched together in a loose fist, and rapped his knuckles against the door to room eight.

He had been in his own room moments before, working on something to keep himself awake, when he heard what sounded like screaming, and something breaking. He had stared at the wall for a few moments, dazed from lack of sleep and still getting over the flu or whatever it was he had, before he was able to comprehend what he heard, and decided to check on his neighbor.

So he had meandered out into the hall, and stood in front of Gamzee's door for some time, arguing with himself, before he finally just fucked it all and knocked, waiting for the highblood to answer.

From within the room came a series of honks an awkward thump, before with a click, the door opened. Gamzee blinked for a moment, before looking down, finding the knocker with a smile. Well... somewhat of a smile, as he was holding one of his slime balls between his lips. His neck was wrapped, concealing the wound caused the previous day, and thankfully he had pants on, but in the terms of a shirt... well, he had one appendage in a single arm of a long-sleeved charcoal colored shirt. The rest of the cloth, was just sort of hanging on his shoulder, as if he had been in the process of putting it on, before answering the door.

The Capricorn tilted his head back slightly and inhaled, pulling the slime roll into his mouth with an audible crunch, before swallowing the thing whole. There was a distinct lack of clown make-up on his face, and the spotted bangles that normally hung from his wrists, "Hey Karkat, what can I do for a motherfucker?"

Karkat blinked a bit as the door suddenly opened and revealed a two thirds of the way dressed Gamzee, and for a second, he just stood there, a little bit caught off guard. Not because of the other troll's lack of clothing, but because of the lack of make-up. He couldn't explain it, but it just looked... weird when he didn't have it on. he shook his head, though, banishing the thoughts to get himself back on track, and pointed at the area between their doors.

"I heard yelling, are you okay?"

Gamzee sort of just blinked, confusion crossing his face, as he seemed to be attempting think. It really didn't look like the male knew what he was talking about, before a little light bulb went off and the Capricorn seemed to remember. "Oh yeah bro, my husktop and I was just rolling about in some strife... hey, Sollux was in the mention that you've got all kinds of technicality wired into your mind. Would you mind getting your see over my electronic device?" As Gamzee spoke, he wrestled to get the rest of his shirt on, doing three full circles, before he seemed to capture the elusive cloth, and get his other arm in the sleeve. However, that process seemed to make him a bit dizzy as he swayed a bit on his feet, before falling against the wall.

Whenever a few students passed by in the hall, Gamzee took a step back, sort of doing this sort of half-turn to the side, before looking back to Karkat after they passed, patiently waiting for his answer.

"I guess, no guarantees though" Karkat answered, biting on his lower lip to keep from smirking at the other troll as he fumbled around with his shirt. He wouldn't admit it, ever, but he had a tiny urge to laugh, just a tiny one, that was gone within a flicker of a second. He was about to step inside, but forced to step back instead to let some students pass by, and then nodded to Gamzee, and headed inside the other's rooms.

He smiled, the action feeling awkward on his face without the paint he used forming to his skin and cheeks, before turning and leading the way into his room. There were now multiple pictures of his capricious minstrels hanging from the walls, smiling at the room occupants in all of their madness. Gamzee relaxed a bit after getting out of view of the hall, though this was minuscule, and was an easy thing to go unnoticed. "Thanks motherfucker, watch out for the horns. Those little cousins are mischievous as hell, they'll sneak up on you." As he spoke, the Capricorn dodged a few of the noise maker mines, doing this sort of hop as he maneuvered over to one wall, simultaneously buttoning up his shirt, except for the top three latches which he left unfastened.

"Husktop is perching in it's designated position," the Capricorn gave his hand a wave towards the troll styled computer, before rolling up his sleeves and giving his head a tilt to gauge Karkat's reaction/see if he thought he could fix it.

Karkat looked down at the floor as Gamzee mentioned something about horns, and saw the place was littered with the little noise makers. "Wow, a week and you already managed to make this place a mess" he stated absentmindedly, eyes going glossy for just a second before snapping back to reality.

He walked over towards the computer, and stared at it, blinking again.

"Jegus christ did you take a fucking hammer to it?" He asked, lifting it up to look at the smashed keyboard, for that was indeed what it looked like, that someone had decided to just get their rage on and start bashing shit in. "What the hell happened to it?"

Gamzee blinked for a moment, simply staring once more, before- "Fuck... I can't remember. My hands are kind of motherfucking throbbing though, so maybe I gave it some fist contact," the Capricorn gave a shrug, watching Karkat examine his computer for a few more second, before maneuvering to his bathroom. He shuffled through his drawers for a moment, before he pulled out the white and charcoal gray grease paint. Then he proceeded with pulling back hair via the use of copious amounts of bobby pins.

"Think you can bring it back to life? Be a troll Frankenstein?" he shouted, probably a little to loudly, but the slightly echoing sound in the tile bathroom sounded kind of wicked and made him chuckle to himself as a paint brush found it's bristle in the white paint, before skillfully becoming layered on the male's jaw and cheeks. Gamzee had done this so much, for so long, that even if he was so high on slime he couldn't remember who he was, he could still paint his face near perfectly.

Karkat frowned, taking a few seconds longer to stare at the computer before he responded. "Not sure, I can try, but it might take a while, depends on how much and what is damaged" He called back, picking up the partially busted husktop and tucking it under his arm. He'd toss it in his room on the way out. It was six in the morning and he didn't have his first class until ten. So he could focus his attention on the broken computer while he was passing the time. Maybe if he ended up with no homework, he'd even be able to get it done before nightfall, it was a challenge, but he felt himself determined to do it, even if it meant skipping on homework, after all, he still had the entire weekend for those things.

He looked towards the bathroom, where Gamzee disappeared into to apply his face paint, and waited not-so-patiently. "When you're done, I'm looking at your damn hands, make sure you didn't break a finger or something"

"Sure bro, but the fuckers don't feel quaked," he responded as he re-capped the white paint, temporarily putting a second, smaller brush in his mouth with a twist, before moving to the ash colored face application. Not that he'd feel it if they were actually broken, Gamzee did have a tendency to feel numb to these kinds of things. He gave a hum, outlining lips, eyes, the accents on cheeks and the dots on his temples. Then, with a final brush across his nose, put the lid on the paint, slipped on the spotted bangles onto each wrist, and stepped out of the bathroom.

He felt better. Although he didn't mind Karkat seeing him without his face, it still made him feel a little odd. A part of him was relieved that he still felt somewhat comfortable talking to the current Karkat like that, even if the male didn't know the significance of it. When he stepped out, he held up his hands so the Cancer could inspect them, the metal bracelets on his wrisst tinging together at the movement. "What kind of appointments do you've got from the school feeders today?"

"not much, just biochemistry and Data structures" Karkat answered as he grabbed hold of Gamzee's wrist (Just in case his fingers were broken, he didn't want to grab his hand and cause any unneeded pain) and carefully inspected the other male's hands. They looked a little sore, but not misshapen or odd or anything like that, so he decided that they were fine. "your hands look okay, just try not to go around beating on random things" he practically ordered, letting go of the taller male and stepping back.

"Honk."

And that was his answer, as that smile grew, falling more naturally on his lips now. It felt almost unreal, talking to Karkat like this. He could nearly imagine that everything was good and right, that he hadn't talked to some psycho bitch who claimed to have harmed the Cancer. That there was a very real threat of Karkat never remembering those old times. Those rather depressing thoughts were chased away rather quickly, as the haze seemed to block that memory and thought pattern. The uses of sopor. "If you're going to be tinkering with the broken husk, mind if I get some chill going around? I can take pen to paper, sketch up some ideas for your wicked picture, be all nice and shhhh quiet time now. Like a motherfucking hushbeast."

"Sure, I guess, I just gotta grab my stuff from my room, hold on a second" The red blooded troll responded, carrying the laptop with him as he slipped out of Gamzee's room, and ran into his own. He put the laptop on the floor near the unused recooporacoon, and walked over to the dresser, grabbing his bag, and dumping it upside down, and then he began to shift through the contents, before locating a tiny case filled with small tools and what not. He grabbed it, picked the laptop back up, and headed back into Gamzee's room.

He took three steps through the doorway before he tripped on a horn, the honking making him jump and drop everything he had been carrying.

"GODDAMMIT What is with all these fucking horns you brainless Juagglo fuckhead!" He swore, muttering under his breath as he regathered his things from the floor and, making sure not to step on any more horns, made his way back into the main room, and cleared a spot for himself, and sat down.

While Karkat had been gone, Gamzee had maneuvered to his kitchen, tinkering with mixing bowls and utensils. Because man, he suddenly had a hankering to bake like the motherfucking wind. He could get some drawing done while his pies were cooking. The excessively tall troll was just about to start pouring some ingredients, when the honk of a horn, proceeded by an angry Karkat yelling rather vigorously in his disdain. The Capricorn laughed, poking his head out of the door way, in time to see the irritated Cancer clearing a spot for himself, and getting comfortable, "Tools of the motherfucking messiahs brother. Told you the cousins were want anything to munch or drink on? I got some fuckin boiled plants and just plain water, since your buds aren't feeling faygo."

The boiled plants, AKA tea, were something of a favorite of Valus'. He didn't care for the tangy taste, but he kept the stuff around so that she would have something to drink when she came to visit his dorm. Jarren and Tansis usually just drank water.

"No, I already had breakfast" Karkat lied easily, his voice still somewhat sour over the incident with the horn a few seconds ago. He opened his case, and first pulled out a screw driver, taking out the screws that held the laptop together to open it up, and that was when he really went to work, but first, an analyses to see what exactly needed to be fixed and if this thing was worth the trouble of being saved, if that was even possible.

...

A few hours later, and Karkat sat in the midst of a laptop that had been picked apart piece by piece, everything that had broken off or was capable of coming apart without damaging anything permanently had been taken apart, and laid carefully out to be kept track of. Thankfully none of the important stuff was broken, just mainly keyboard stuff, and the screen was cracked. Karkat could get it to work, but the screen would always have this huge, annoying crack running through it, that would probably need to be replaced, which was no big deal, he could show Gamzee how to order one online.

Gamzee had kept his word. The entire time Karkat worked, he didn't say a single articulation. He hummed notes and certain raps he had been working on sure, but no actual words passed from his speak hole. After the Cancer had declined his offer of anything to drink or eat a few hours ago, the Capricorn had proceeded to finish mixing his pies, preparing two separate creations, a different mixture of sopor in each. While they had been cooking, Gamzee had retreated to the main room, hunted down the drawing pad he used for his Fine Arts class, a coal stick, and hopped comfy into his horn pile.

Then, he simply drew in silence for a remaining hour and fifteen minutes. His sketches ranged from a little bit of everything. There was some doodles of horns, of capricious minstrels, of ideas for Karkat's picture, and some of Karkat himself. Pie, a cluckbeast, some of his pesterchum smile face, severed legs balancing on a high wire, anything that came to that frayed mind. The steady scratch of paper hardly stopped, the Capricorn didn't even use the eraser. He never did for his sketches, merely because he saw those 'mistakes' as part of the drawing, and he didn't want to harm that miracle.

A buzz from the kitchen, made Gamzee pause in his drawing, look up towards the kitchen without comprehension, before it dawned on him what that sound meant. He set his drawings to the side, stretching as he stood with a series of small pop, before directing a lazy walk towards his kitchen. He released a brief glance in Karkat's direction, taking in the skeletal parts of his husktop, giving a smile, but nothing else yet. Just in case his brother was still getting some concentration going. Once in the kitchen, he pulled on some clown-faced mittens, and propped open the baker door to pull the cooked sopor from the heat trap.

Karkat jumped a little when he heard the buzzer, and looked up momentarily to see what it was before realizing it was for whatever Gamzee was making in his kitchen area. He turned his attention back down towards the computer parts, stretching out quickly and feeling his bones pop into place. Man his back and neck felt a little sore from being hunched over this damn thing. He yawned, and cracked his neck, setting the piece of computer he had been working on, and started to put the whole thing back together. Thank god for electrical tape and super glue.

He closed his eyes, and fell backwards, landing on his back as he sighed, rubbing his temples in slight frustration. The floor was pleasantly cool, and soothed his headache some, and his throbbing eyes enjoyed the chance to get some darkness, rather than staring at the world, which was blurred by the contacts that irritated his eyes. He blinked, looking up at the ceiling, listening to Gamzee doing... whatever the hell it was he was doing in the kitchen as he convinced himself to take a tiny break.

He sighed again, closing those eyes as he soaked up the coolness on the floor, and before he knew it, he curled up on his side, and slipped off to dream land.

The smell of the cooked slime filled the kitchen. It was a spicy tang, the steam from the edible-but-your-not-supposed-to-really-eat-it substance, cleared Gamzee's senses for a brief moment, before the haze settled nice and snug over his mind again. The male set the green substance on the top of the oven, turning off said appliance so that it wouldn't over heat and burn down the dorms. It would be difficult for his pies to cool if his kitchen was on fire.

Satisfied that everything was in order, Gamzee abandoned his kitchen, only to stop himself in the doorway. The last thing that he noticed was his re-assembled husktop, the first, was a sleeping Karkat.

He didn't move at first, waiting, watching. The indigo blooded troll was searching for any sign of distress, of tensity, or anything else unpleasant. But from where he stood, Karkat simply slept. Carefully, cautious of his horns, Gamzee navigated towards where the Cancer had curled up near his horn pile. Looking at him like this, peaceful, at ease, made the threat of this morning's tenaciousObscession seem like some sort of ridiculous joke. After another long moment of silent observation, a smile pulled on the corner of his lips, as he reached carefully for his sketchpad, mindful of any small noise he made, before sitting cross-legged across from Karkat. His charcoal pencil was just about to touch the pad, when his phone vibrated.

Gamzee lunged for the thing, his hand wrapping tightly around the device, before he stared unblinking at Karkat... waited... before a silent sigh fell from his lips, and he opened the device.

EI: wherE arE yqU thE absenceS yqU havE displayeD tqdaY arE unbecqminG  
>TC: SoRrY SiS I GoT DiStRaCtEd<br>EI: thaT iS nqthinG unusuaL  
>EI: I wilL savE yqU A seaT aT luncH I suppqsE<br>TC: ThAtS OkAy vAl, i'M GoInG To cHiLl iN My dOrM WiTh kArKaT ToDaY  
>EI: whaT<br>EI: havE yqU becqmE mqirailS agaiN  
>TC: NoThInG LiKe tHaT, BuT We'Ve gOt sOmEtHiNg mOtHeRfUcKiNg fLoWiNg<br>EI: sqmethinG  
>EI: I respectfullY requesT yqU specifY<br>TC: SoRrY SiS, BuT I DoN't wAnT My dEvIcE ViBrAtInG AnD RiSkInG HiS WiCkEd cUtE Z's  
>EI: zS<br>EI: waiT hE iS sleepinG iN yquR rqqM  
>TC: I'm gOiNg tO ShUt dOwN, TaLk tO YoU LaTeR VaLuS. : o)<br>EI: WAIT!

Gamzee did not see that last message from the elegantInformer, having already turned his cell phone off and closed it. Now, he could focus on what he was doing. Drawing his brother wandering apparently comfortable in dream land. He only hoped that what he saw on the outside, was also reflecting the inside.

...

When Gamzee focused on drawing something specific, something he wanted to etch as close to possible as what appeared in his mind, or directly in front of him, everything else closed out. Time, noise, hunger, all of these things became irrelevant. It had started when he had first painted his face. From there, it had manifested itself in partials. At first as something childish, finger painting using his slime or whatever else was present. But slowly afterward it developed, even in his madness one of the first thing he wanted to do after a kill, was paint pictures, words, and images, in their blood. He hadn't actually thought of art or drawing as an option for distracting his mind, until Tansis urged him to give it a try. Gamzee had been fond of it sense.

So it was understandable, as he sat there with a near finished portrait of a sleeping Karkles, darkening specific lines in his hair for shadow with quick sharp stroked, when he didn't hear the door knock the first couple of times. That was, until the door was slammed against so hard that it sounded like whoever was knocking would have surely broken their hand. Gamzee looked up, lazy eyes half-lowered as he looked towards the door to his room, blinking sort of unevenly at it... before looking over at the large digital clock on his wall. 1:00 pm.

The Capricorn blinked in surprise, slowly pulling himself to a stand. Bones and body creaking and popping from sitting in the same location and same position for so long. A yawn was stifled, as he made his way towards the door, turned the knob, and opened. He was met, by a very stern-faced Valus, her arms crossed tight over her chest, and eyes glittering with suspicion and accusation. "Is Vantas still present?"

Gamzee blinked for a moment, withholding a laugh, because he knew that face the highblood female was making. It was her 'i'm about to give you a lecture because I care and you are being incredible ridiculous/stupid" face. "Yeah motherfucker, he's still getting snoozes in dream world."

"May I speak to you out here please."

"Sure thing sis," Gamzee quietly exited his room, and closed the door with a muffled click, "What's got you in such a ruffle that you had to get navigated to my HQ?"

"Vantas is what has me _in a ruffle_! You don't speak to the little freak for days, and now suddenly he can presumptuously sleep in your room! And you're skipping classes to what... watch over him?"

Gamzee blinked, "Well, yeah. Didn't want the moth-"

"So if he's not your moirail again, then why are you going through so much trouble! You are risking your social position, and standing by catering to that... that... midget fucker!"

"Woah sis..."

"M-my apologies, I do not like to result to such vulgar language."

"It's cool. But look, I'm not in the care about rank and hemospectrum's and shit. You're in the know about that. Besides, if any motherfucker wanted to challenge my position or lineage, I just fucking strife with them and inform them of their misgivings. Then we'd make like the sky and chill with the sun."

"That's besides the point! You realize you put him in danger as well, since for some reason unknown you seem to care for the mystery-blooded abomination. What if he gets jumped because you've taken such an interest in h-" Valus stopped what she was saying half-way through, at this odd look that crossed Gamzee's eyes.

"If any motherfucker had the bulge to do that, they'd be a dead motherfucker."

Valus sighed, bringing a hand to her head, tangling her fingers in her bangs as she tried to make Gamzee see reason. "Okay look, I'm not asking you to break all contact with him again. But at least be mindful of what you do. For example, him sleeping in your room gives off an... impression."

Blank blinks from Gamzee, "Impression?"

"If you are not moirails, and you obviously do not hate him, or are acting as an auspice, what does that leave."

"Woah sis, Karkat and I don't have little red hearts for each other."

"Yes, but no one else knows that! I can not stop you from perusing a friendship with the abomination. But at least ensure he sleeps in his own quarters."

"But..." Gamzee held up the sketchpad, showing the drawing he had of the sleeping Karkat. He looked peaceful, relaxed, the dark lines surrounding his image giving him a sense of rest, "Motherfucker looks bad ass cute when he's sleeping. I don't want to upset happy dreamland."

Gamzee watched in fascination, as Valus' eye gave an audible twitch. Followed by, "YOU ARE MISSING THE FUCKING POINT!"

30 minutes later, Gamzee returned to his room with suppressed laughter twitching at his lips. Valus' lecture had been a slow rise and fall of screaming, quiet attempts at understanding, and more screaming. It had been funny watching her bob around and flap her arms like an owl that had woken up to find it's feathers dyed green. She had eventually given up, storming down the hall and growling at an unfortunate lowblood observer, who quickly absconding back into their room, back into safety.

Indigo eyes rose, scanning the floor, and finding Karkat where he had left him. Man, he couldn't believe his brother had slept through all that. Maybe his room was deaf to the screeches of an angry Valus? Gamzee kind of hoped so, that sure would be nice. Setting his sketchpad on the side-table, the Capricorn maneuvered into the kitchen to indulge in one of the officially way cooled slime pies. Time to recharge.


	26. An Awkward Awakening

Sorry for the lateness on this one guys. I've been sick with a bad cold recently that's left me with horrible headaches and no motivation, and Aussie's been busy with work =( Hope you like the update anyway, I'm going to down some medication after this.

- Eren S.

* * *

><p>Sollux frowned as he stepped into the room, empty eyes narrowing. He couldn't sense anyone here, but that was wrong, it was early, and saturday, Karkat should have been here. He wouldn't be asleep, Sollux knew that, but he didn't leave his room at night either, and he usually didn't leave his living space unless he felt he had to. So when the blind troll stepped into his friend's dorm room to find it empty, he felt a tad bit anxious.<p>

Oh shit, he really hoped Karkat wasn't laying dead in here, he couldn't sense dead bodies, but he also didn't want to go around crawling on his hands and knees to make sure there were no dead trolls in the room, so instead, he headed back out the door, and stopped in front of room eight, pounding loudly.

"Gamzee! Get up!"

Gamzee had actually been having a rather nice dream. It was something involving a sopor river, rainbow blooded rain, and a sick rap off with this wicked talking tree. The reason he had been having a nice dream, was because nowhe was awakened by the sound of a pounding fist on his door, and Sollux's voice somewhat muffled through the wooden barrier. An audible growl escaped the back of Gamzee's throat, as he sent a drowsy glare in the general direction of the Gemini, through the hole in his recupracoon. "... hold on," he mumbled, although it clearly wasn't said loud enough for Sollux to hear, as he went through the usual task of getting out of his sleeping apparatus. Horns, hands, shoulders, hips, one leg, trip, wall catch before falling down.

Pieces of still clinging sopor slid down the Capricorn's bare back, as dilated indigo eyes flickered up towards the digital clock on his wall. 4:30am. Damn, Sollux couldn't wait 30 more minutes to come banging on his door and be all bossy and shit. Another thought made itself aware in his think pan, as Gamzee made his way towards the door, glancing down near the horn pile to see that Karkat seemed to still be asleep. He did give a smile at that. Seems like the mirthful messiahs had sent a blessing through the noise makers to aid Karkat in sleep. Motherfucking miraculous. He stifled another yawn as he came to the door, and turned the knob to give it a pull open.

Gamzee could care less if Sollux couldn't see his expression, he still gave a half-drowzed glare at those sightless eyes. His words heavily slurred as he was still half-asleep, "Man motherfucker, you're all kinds of noisy."

Sollux merely stepped back, giving the highblood some room as he cleared his throat. "I can't find Karkat, he wasn't in his room and he's not answering his phone, I was wondering if you knew where he was?"

The highblood simply stared at the Gemini, silent for a long minute. Slowly, he blinked one eye, then the other, before giving his head a small shake to try and wake up/focus. Because he had almost fallen back asleep standing up. Gamzee gave a yawn, jaws popping as those fangs became bared to the world, air flowing in through his speak hole, before he finally responded, "Cool your tits bro," and then his hand reached out, grabbed Sollux by his shirt front, and turned, dragging the Gemini into his room. He released the mustard blooded male as soon as Karkat was visually visible, releasing another yawn as he waved a hand in his direction.

"Check by the magic horn pile."

Sollux was a little off-put by Gamzee dragging him into the room so forcefully like that, but decided it'd be best to not say anything about it, it was early as fuck and the male had been raging last night thanks to one tenaciousObsession. He was probably not in the best of moods.

However, as he was told to check by the horn pile, he frowned, focusing his senses, and realized that the one he was looking for was laying in front of him, peacefully asleep. he merely stared, not blinking for a few moments, before a wide smile spread itself over his face and he clasped one hand down on Gamzee's shoulder.

"Gamzee, you're a fucking miracle worker I swear, how on earth did you get him to fall asleep?" He asked, lowering his voice so that it wouldn't disturb the sleeping troll, but loud enough for Gamzee to hear.

Gamzee gave a shrug, barely aware of a congratulatory hand on his shoulder, before he remembered again that the Gemini couldn't physically see any movement, "I didn't do anything, not that my think pan's aware of. Thanks to that one what's-her-face bitch, I broke my husktop. Karkat heard me getting some anger going, and came to check on me. So I asked the motherfucker to fix my key pressing device," another yawn, though this one was stifled as he continued, "At some point I went into the kitchen to pull out the pies, came back and my bro was kicking around some wicked Zs. The tools of the messiahs probably got some blessing going, I don't think I up and did anything." The entire time Gamzee talked, it was in a mumbled slur. It wasn't because he was trying to be quiet, it was because his mind was still half-asleep.

The Capricorn may wake up at the exact same time every morning. But if he was awakened at anytime between when he went asleep, and that 5am mark, he was like the walking dead.

"I think it's just a natural consequence of being around you. Moirails are really hard to find, and the bond between them is pretty strong, I guess even destroying memories can't break it, so long as the personality is intact" Sollux responded simply, finally feeling relaxed for the first time all morning. Thank god he had been right in letting Gamzee into the situation. Matesprits and kismesis may come and go, but moirailegance tended to be for life. "Well, anyway, I guess I should get going, was going to see if Karkat wanted to go do something today instead of just sit in his room, but I'd rather let him sleep"

Gamzee reached one hand up to scratch at the base of his hair, scratching until chills ran up in spine, drowsy eyes blinking at Sollux, before, "Yeah, maybe... I'll let the motherfucker know when he emerges that you got your swing by," The Capricorn's arms swung upward, coming up alongside his horns as he stretched, feeling muscle pulls and bones slide deliciously into place, an audible sigh of relief falling from his lips, "I'm gonna slide back in the coon, and show that fucking tree how a motherfucker really rhymes."

Karkat laid on the floor, trapped somewhere between a dream and waking up. But it was different than usual, not the screaming horrors that made sleeping a dream enough in itself. It was... just odd, not a good dream, but not a bad one either, just creepy. He was standing in a massive, unending darkness, with nothing around him, just the constant noise of water dripping, like a leaky tap, just drip, drip, dripping away. He was standing in the midst of it, just standing there, staring into the darkness with half opened, glazed eyes. He stood that way for what seemed like hours, nothing changing, before he noticed movement beneath his feet.

There was a whole other world on the other side of the wall he was standing on, clear as class, but it blocked out all noise. It was covered in dust, thick and even save for where he was standing, where his feet made slight implants in the dust. Though some scratches, he could see movement, like there was something beneath him, and he frowned before leaning down and getting on his knees, where he began to wipe away the dust.

But before he could clear it away to see what was on the other side, he found himself blurring out of the dream and back into reality. For a second, his brain was still stuck back in that dark room, moving the dust away from the glass, as he sat up, staring somewhat groggily at the two trolls in the room before yawning and stretching his back out automatically. and then he looked back at the two, Sollux standing there with his hand on Gamzee's shoulder, and Gamzee standing there completely naked with slime still dripping from various parts of his body. Karkat blinked, looking around the room and wondering how he got in here, when a very clear, single thought went through his head.

Gamzee standing there completely naked with slime still dripping from various parts of his body.

Gamzee standing there completely naked.

STANDING THERE COMPLETELY FUCKING NAKED

**FUCKING NAKED.**

The thought turned itself over in his head before it actually made any sense in his sleep fogged brain, and once he realized it, his face went stark red. And it was one of those moments where you scream at yourself not to fucking look, but for some reason you do anyway. He lurched backwards, tripping over the pile of horns and using one hand to cover his red, red face. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING NAKED"

The sudden noise slamming against his ear drums made Gamzee jump, physically flinching back against the wall as his eyes widened, heart pounding, as he suddenly found himself very awake. Until understanding of what that screaming was for, and what that voice had said settled in. Indigo irises flickered to Karkat, who, even though he had his face partially covered, the red of embarrassment could still be seen through gaps in his fingers. He laughed, he couldn't help it, not whenever a face liked that was accompanied by the sound of his mirthful noisemakers, "I'm not going to snooze in the sopor with my clothes. Shit's hard to clean, besides, it's so much more motherfucking comfortable having freedom, while I traverse the dream world," his words filtered through that laughter as he attempted to control it. He had planned on getting dressed as soon as he woke up, thinking that Karkat would probably still be getting his snooze on.

Sollux hadn't really fell into the Capricorn's plan.

Sollux had removed his hand from Gamzee's shoulder the instant he heard something about the highblood being naked, and casually stepped back, managing to keep his cool. Okay, he wasn't really aware that he had been casually chatting with the other male while he was walking around nude, that was a little weird, but he was glad he was blind.

Had Gamzee not just said he preferred sleeping nude, Sollux probably would have jumped to a really bad conclusion, but he figured now was as good a time as any to shut the fuck up and try to sneak his way out of the room and let these two argue it out themselves.

Karkat, on the other hand, crawled over the damn horn pile, and seemed to hide behind it, crouching down with both hands over his face as he tried to hide the furious blush that had spread over his cheeks, swearing under his breath profusely at having been caught so off guard like that. Oh god why had he looked down that was so fucking stupid. "Just-hurry-up-and-get-some-fucking-clothes-on-or-crawl-back-into-the-recooporacoon-or-something-jesus-christ"

Gamzee was nearly double-over laughing when he watched his bro make a mad dash to the other side of his horn pile. Not really noticing Sollux as he very subtly made a move to silently abscond. It was a good thing Gamzee could understand Karkat's fast talk, as he began to hunt around for clothes, shuffling towards his dresser, "Al-alright motherfucker, just.. g-give me all of a second to hunt down leg h-h-huggers." Talking while trying not to laugh was hard.

It only took a moment, for Gamzee to pull open his drawer, shuffle through his clothes in the dimly lit room, and pull out a pair of spotted pajama bottoms, reminiscent of the clothes he wore when he was younger. And yes, he did own pajama's, he just didn't like to wear them. But he slipped them on anyway, pulling up to the waist, before tying the string safely into place. "There bro, your virtue is all up and safe." he was done laughing, but he had this massive grin over his lips that he couldn't hide. Man, he had all up and forgot how some folks were so skittish about nudity.

"I-IT'S NOT FUNNY YOU JACKASS" Karkat hollered back, chancing a look at Gamzee to see that the male had pulled some pants on (Thank god) but when his gaze immediately ran to the male's face, the image of him naked danced across his mind again and he turned around immediately, his face no less red than before. Oh god-motherfucking-dammit. It was going to take him weeks to forget that now, because his brain was going to keep tormenting him by making him think of it.

It was kinda weird overall, and somewhat disturbing, to know that Gamzee had been naked in the damn room with him, and Sollux. Wait... had Sollux had his hand on Gamzee's shoulder, and only moved away or looked uncomfortable when Karkat woke up. He felt his insides squeeze together even more as he figured that he must have interrupted something. Oh geese that was gross, he didn't want to know if the two were a kismesis or Matesprit pair.

He stood up, and moved against the wall towards the door. "Uh... I'll just... go back.. to my room" he stated in a quick manner, seeming to search for the right word as he suddenly ran past Sollux, out the door, and into his own dorm room, his face red the entire time.

Gamzee gave this sort of blink, tilting his head to once side as Karkat absconded... rather quickly out of his room, sprinting past a supposedly sneaking Sollux. "Wow, what got into him. You'd think the motherfucker had walked in on some pail filling," The Capricorn shrugged, completely un-effected as he rolled one shoulder, popping it into place. Oh well, "See ya sometime in wandering Sollux, if you don't all got the mind, can you shut the door?" he called out, not quite figuring what could have caused such a disturbance, as he slipped into the kitchen to have a serious chat with one of his nicely cooled pies.

"Yeah, I'll shut it, sorry about waking you up" Sollux called out, just before exiting the room, and closing the door behind him, shaking his head a little as he walked down the hallway towards the door, heading outside and to his own building.


	27. Out of Medication

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

This time it wasn't my fault that the chapters were so late XD

- Eren S.

* * *

><p>Karkat spent ten minutes in his bathroom, struggling with his contacts and managing to force his blush back down to leave his face grey and colorless once more. Oh gosh, if he kept up with all this fucking excitement lately he was going to have a heart attack or something. And jesus fucking goddammit did his eyes hurt. He took his contacts out, rubbing his temples as his eyes throbbed in their sockets. They were sore after just a few hours in, and now they had been in since yesterday morning and it burned like someone had shoved a fire poker into his eyes.<p>

It was probably worse than it could have been, seeing as he was flustered at the same time as being frustrated. Trolls may be very different from humans, but walking in on your friend naked was still pretty... well... shocking and unwanted for the most part. Oh jesus christ he barely knew the guy more than a week and he was already referring to him as a friend, what the hell was wrong with him? He growled to himself as he shoved his contacts back into their case, and picked up what seemed to be a small bottle of clear fluid. It was a human creation he found incredibly useful called eye drops. They were made to numb the eyeballs and reduce pain and dear god in heaven was it the only useful thing humans had ever created in the history of this cursed co-existence between the races.

He glanced up to look in the mirror, and froze at his own reflection for a second. There was nothing different about it, just the same, somewhat rounded face staring back at him, lips slightly parted and revealing just the barest hint of very sharp, blade like teeth, hair a complete mess, the yellow sclera of his eyes stained red, the veins standing out as his eyeballs throbbed. The bright red of his irises staring back at him. Nothing special or unusual, and yet, he could hear his own heartbeat starting to go crazy in his ears, drowning out everything around him, the world drowning into a vibration with each beat, like reality was distorting itself, but he knew it was just his vision, things were just as still and silent as always.

And then the noise of his heartbeat stopped, replaced by a high pitched whine that made him wince. He grimaced, finally able to move as he covered his ears with his hands, squeezing his eyes shut. But when he reopened them, the bathroom had twisted itself around him.

The walls were rusted, stained with something black and something else red that looked somewhat fresh, coagulated blood, brighter than a normal rust blooded troll's color, a few degrees brighter than a human's blood even, matching the color of his eyes perfectly, which had widened, the pupils becoming a tiny blot against that bright red. But they didn't wander around the room, they stayed fixated on that mirror. It seemed to change, first it was a simple reflection, the next it was that other version of himself, the one that smirked with bloody teeth and wide open empty eye sockets that were bottomless and black. It moved towards that small glass rectangle that separated them, reached through it like it wasn't even there, and grabbed Karkat from around his neck, pulling himself out of the mirror until he was leaning halfway out it. The other him, the one that was bloody and looked more like a corpse than anything alive, slung one arm around his shoulder, and the other forcing his chin up, forcing him to stare at that horrifying version of himself. Stare it right in it's empty eyes.

"Ahahahahahahaha... why don't... I just... DIE ALREADY?"

A warm, wet feeling brought him back to reality, for a second, the delusion was gone, replaced by the bathroom he had come to know rather well, the mirror empty save for his own, frozen eyed reflection. And then the delusion came back on, and without thinking, he reacted.

. . .

_I want to die. _

. . .

A minute or so later, and Karkat finally finished picking up broken pieces of mirror off the floor, threw them in the trashcan, and then began to search one handed through the cabinets before he finally discovered some clean towels. Thank god. Because he was truly disgusted with himself right now. His shirt was stained with blood from his hand, which had taken most of the minute to take the glass out of when he decided to be an idiot and punch the mirror. And his pants were darker on the front, and wet. God he was disgusted with himself, he couldn't believe he had wet his fucking pants like a goddamn wriggler. He just... really wanted a shower, and if he didn't have nice, clean towels he might have lost it and started trashing the fucking dorm room.

He turned the water on, dumping the towels on a clean spot on the cabinet, and merely walked right in, not bothering to get undressed or anything.

He must have sat in there for nearly two hours before he actually threw his soaping wet clothes out and took an actual shower rather then just stand there thinking about shit while the steaming hot water cooked him from the outside in. After that, he cleaned up quickly, and then stepped out, drying himself out with a towel and changing into a new pair of clothes in the bedroom/ living room portion of the dorm.

As he pulled on the jeans and slipped on a simple black T-shirt, and then began to bandage his wounded hand (Damn those cuts were deep), he thought back, once more, on what had happened. Not in the bathroom, but in Gamzee's room. And no not the waking up part and the awkwardness that ensued after that, but the actual sleep. Despite the hallucination moments before, and the awkwardness before that, he felt... weird. And he didn't like it. On top of that, no nightmares, not a single one besides that dream where he was trying to clear the dust off the floor to see what was underneath it. Why hadn't he had nightmares that night? It couldn't have been just because he was in a different room that didn't make any fucking sense. Had it been something in the air? Maybe the smell of those damn pies got to him. But that didn't make any sense either, Karkat had tried sleeping in the sopor slime, the nightmares were less real, a little bit blurry to him, but they were still there, and still terrifying. It didn't make any difference in or out of the slime.

It wasn't like the guy was his fucking moirail or anything, he barely even knew Gamzee. What did he know about him besides the fact that he drugged himself out on sopor slime and had some weird obsession with clowns? He bit down on his lower lip, and moved to the edge of the couch, reaching for where he had dumped out his bag earlier, and riffled through it before coming up with a pill bottle. He popped it open, only to find that it was empty, and scowled. Well great, now he'd have to pick up more of those fucking caffeine pills and he might as well do it as soon as possible.

He pulled on a pair of jogging shoes, a jacket, and slipped back out into the hallway, down the numbered doors, and out into the cool, autumn morning air. The wind biting angrily at his face and the exposed fingers of the undamaged hand.

A high pitched whistling screamed through the air. It was accompanied by a brief pause as a gust of wind was sliced in half, by two glistening metal discs. They launched themselves at Karkat, One cutting in front of his path, the other creating a small whirlind as it circled around the Cancer multiple times, before,

"Oy! Vantas!"

The Frisbees screeched away from the nub-horned male, twisting around each other as they all but danced through the air, before a clawed hand ripped one of them from the sky. At a stand still, one could see that unlike a regular Frisbee, this one had been stripped of it's lip. The second disc, began a slow orbit around it's master, as the dark violet irises of the troll narrowed.

"Ah got uh score to settle wit ya."

"Are you fucking serious?" Karkat blurted as the two frisbees launched towards him, stopping him in his back as one cut ahead of him and the other circled around him before both headed back to their masters.

Gah, whatever, fine, he'd just beat this asshole into the dust again. He reached down to grab his sickles and oh dammit they weren't there. Right, he had left them on the kitchen counter after his shower... damn. He scowled a little, holding up one hand. "Fine, if you want a fucking fight, hold on, left my weapons inside" He called out, ignoring the bitching of the highblood as he turned around, and headed back into the dorm, swearing under his breath as he slipped back into his room.

He grabbed the twin weapons off the counter, and ran back outside (after fussing with the fucking door again to get it shut), and spotted Jarren, sickles in hand as he headed towards the other male before he came to a stop, and moved into a fighting position. His hand was going to give him some issues, the knuckles were pretty cut up underneath the bandages and glove he was wearing to hide and protect them from view. But he would hopefully work around it.

And yes, while he was gone, Jarren did bitch, but he did try to practice patience. After all, it wouldn't be nearly as fun to thrash the mystery blooded troll if he didn't have the means to fight against him. However... the patience part of waiting hadn't been going so well, if the whitened knuckles around one frisbee, and the steadily increasing velocity of the second was anything to go by.

Jarren scowled at Karkat as he took up position in preparation for a fight, "Uhbout fuckin' time, wha' kinda troll goes around witout 'is artillery." The highblood reached up his free hand to give the collar of his white coat a straightening tug, before that same hand gave a flick, and without further warning, the circling Frisbee was launched. But this time, Jarren stayed put, his narrowed eyes watching as if he were waiting to see something as the disc barreled at high velocity towards the cancer. Frisbee two clutched in his hand.

"Fuck you okay, I wasn't expecting to get jumped" Yeah, let's go with that rather than admit that he kinda FORGOT he didn't have his sickles. To be fair though, he did bring them with almost every other day, the delusion earlier had just gotten him off guard and messed him up a little on his daily routine.

He moved the second he saw that frisbee launched, dropping down to a crouching position, and raising up one sickle to catch it around the lip. Only when the blunted end of the sickle razed against the bottom of the frisbee, that he realized there was nothing to catch on, and Karkat scowled. Fucker had removed the lips on them.

Despite that there was no edge to catch the frisbee on, that contact of the sickle still tilted the disc's angle enough that it veered slightly off course to do a full circle around Karkat, and caused a laugh to come from Jarren, his fangs bare in a grin. That's right grub faced imp, that shit ain't gonna work no more. The circular troll then took a step forward, beginning an un-rushed walk towards Karkat, tossing up the second frisbee. Disc two launched away from it's master, to join it's brother, the two uniting for a brief moment as they circled the cancer, before splitting up, and coming at the male from both sides. Jarren continuing his approach from the front.

Great, three fucking targets to keep track of, this was just fucking wonderful. He watched as the two discs came his way, and glanced over to see Jarren coming towards him, and acted fast. Still in a crouching position, he launched himself backwards, the only direction he could still go without running into a threat, rolled, and slid back up onto his feet, almost loosing his footing on the slippery leaves covering the ground.

That grin on Jarren's lips nearly doubled in size, watching the male dodge and the two disc's cross over each other where Karkat had just been. The duel was starting to draw some attention, the few humans and trolls that were up this early, cast curious glances, some stopping to watch. Not that Jarren cared. "Don' go too fast Crabbeh," he snarled, before both of his arms whipped out to sit parallel with the ground, the two frisbee's making a wide arch to return and hover inches from his fingertips.

Then, hand swung forward, nearly clapping as both disc's launched forward. Though this time they weren't aimed at Karkat. The metal weapons dove towards the ground leveling out only when they fell below the thin layer of leaves. around Karkat's feet. Then, they began to spin in a a sharp circle, one frisbee chasing the other, the wind created kicking up the leaves, and as the fall foliage began to rise up, so to did the discs. They span, faster and faster around Karkat, until leaves actually began to become drawn towards the vortex. Shrouding the Cancer, in what suspiciously looked like a small tornado of leaves.

Jarren's dark violet irises were gleaming, jaws clenched tight, and sweat gleaming from his brow, as he navigated as quickly as possible, while holding control of his discs, towards the vortex. Then he jumped, aiming a spinning kick, barely dodging his own weapon, as through the flurry of leaves, he made his attack.

Oh shit, now he was pretty much fucking blind. Karkat snarled at the tornado of leaves that had formed around him, eyes desperately trying to keep track of the two spinning discs in case they would shoot at him, but thanks to all the leaves, it was impossible to keep concentration on them both. Fuck. He couldn't even get out of the tornado because they were both moving so fast.

The next thing he was aware of was a sharp pain in his upper right shoulder, and he reacted without thinking. He twisted his injured hand around, turning with the force of the kick, and propelled his sickle into the other male's leg as it hit him, nearly dislocating his arm.

Dear sweet Mothergrub of GOG THAT HURT! Jarren lurched back, the satisfaction of finally landing a hit on the little bastard, dimmed at the feel of cold foreign metal lodged into his thigh. An audible snarl came from his throat, when as soon as his good leg hit the ground he pushed back, away from the Cancer. A violent hiss soon followed as the penetrated leg came out instinctively to help catch his balance. The sudden surge of pain caused him to stumble, Jarren falling to his good knee to keep from toppling over like some kind of limp wriggler.

The frisbee's, having lost the concentration of their master, veered off. One launched itself at a small gathering of bystanders, nearly lopping the head off of one unfortunate human female before lodging itself into the wall of a nearby building. The second whistled away in another random direction. The vortex of leaves, gradually lost it's momentum, the loose bits of foliage falling soft and peaceful towards the ground. Karkat became temporarily forgotten, as a glare was thrown down toward where the hooked weapon lodged into his leg.

Before a backlash from all the mental stimulation of controlling two disc's at once slammed against his skull with the full force of a pick axe against his brain. One hand flew up to cradle his head as he continued to hiss, "Shit-shit-shit-shit-SHIT," his leg throbbed, his head throbbed, fuck when did the morning sun get so damn bright? Without further thought, one of Jarren's hands flew down, fingers wrapping around the blade where it sunk into his thigh poking right into a nerve and causing the muscles there to tense and lock up, before giving a rough pull.

Not the smartest thing he had done.

The sickle did pull out of his flush a few inches, releasing a fresh flow of dark violet blood to the ground, but the blade also cut into his hand. A fresh wave of irritation, pain, and another pound of the pick axe against his mind, flowed into Jarren's nerve, "TIS IS FUCKIN' RIDICUL-OW-Ow-ow-ow-ow, gog mah head." He was going to kill Valus, that had been a horrible idea. The male could deal with physical pain, but this mental shit was ridiculous.

Karkat let go of the sickle as it was whisked away, still stuck in whatever the fuck had hit him, and stayed low to the ground, trying to keep concentrated in case anything else was going to come at him. His right side was pretty much fucked now, not only was his hand cut off, but this wonderfully numb sensation was starting to spread from his shoulder down his arm, leaving only a dull throbbing behind. He could move his fingers, and his elbow, but not his shoulder, so fuck, it was probably dislocated or something, he didn't really know.

But instead of another attack, the leaves began to die down, the frisbees launched off in random directions, and Jarren attempting to pull the sickle out of his thigh.

And perfect, now Karkat felt guilty. It had been an automatic reaction to attack with the sickle, but he didn't like hurting someone unless it was a fight to the death, not a simple duel. Especially that severely, cuts and bruises were one thing. Wounds that would take weeks to heal, quite another. He bit down on his lower lip, watching as Jarren struggled with the sickle, and apparently some other issues he was having, and walked over, slowly, to make sure the highblood wouldn't attack him.

"Stop grabbing the blade, and you can't just pull it out, it's curved, which means you have to slide it out or you'll just make it a lot worse" He stated in a harsh tone, getting down into a kneeling position so as to get a better look at the wound. He ignored whatever the highblood may have said to him, and grabbed the handle of the sickle.

He curved it out, pressing the blunt edge against the flesh as it slid out so as to not cut any deeper than it already had been, and had the weapon out in less than a second before standing back up and shoving them both back into their holsters under his jacket.

Predictably, Jarren flinched away as soon as he noticed that Karkat had come close, before the male registered that the midget troll was talking to him. Something about removing the blade. He started to say something, a harsh retort no doubt, but then he noticed Karkat reaching to grab the handle of the sickle, and he froze, tense. Which was probably why the flesh tugged slightly against the blade, before it was pulled free. Jarren gave a wince, glaring suspiciously at the Cancer, as the circulatory troll put pressure on his bleeding leg, with the equally bleeding hand.

"Yer one hell of uh weird ass troll," Jarren growled out as he pushed himself to a stand, biting back a growl as he leaned on the wounded leg to help keep himself balance, so he wouldn't fall, trying to keep what little pride he had left at this point, still in tact. "No wonduh Gamzee and ya get along so well."

"And you're a grub-sucking fuck-head, what's your point?" Karkat asked, a little bit of a scowl in his voice as he backed away from the other male. he was going to offer to help Jarren reach the medical office or something, but on second thought it would probably get rejected. Those highblood just couldn't live down having a low blood help them.

After making sure both sickles were secure and safe in his pocket, he turned around, and began to head first towards the wall where Jarren's frisbee had embedded itself pretty deep into the brick wall. It was a little bit high up, but he managed to reach it and use his body weight to jerk it off the wall. He walked back over towards Jarren, and threw it on the ground. He probably would have gotten the second one too, but he had no idea where it went, so instead, he simply walked around the highblood, and left school grounds.

Jarren had been in the process of trying to mentally locate frisbee number two, scowling to himself, eyes shut tight as he reached out for his device. When the thump against the ground, totally and completely did NOT make him jump, and cause his eyes to fly open and stare at the retreating form of Karkat. He would have said a harsh remark to his back, would have commented on how he could have gotten his own damn weapon himself, but for the fact that the next thing he knew, there was the feel of metal against his skull, and he was suddenly having a nice view of the ground.

A string of swears spilled freely from Jarren' lips, as his headache had been increased tenfold, before a cry of pain snarled from his lips and he looked over his shoulder... to find a very angry looking Valus looking down at him, with her heel digging into his fresh wound. "WHA' TEH HELL V-" his words were cut off when he saw that the female was holding frisbee number two in her hand. Jarren suddenly had a very bad feeling.

"Good evening Mr. Dammad, I assume that you will know the reason why, upon awakening this morning, I found your adorable little weapon had broken through my window, and demolished a shelf containing a week's worth of vials and chemical exploration for cures."

Oh.

Fuck.

"V-Lus, it was an accident! Ah was in teh middle of uh duel wit Van-AH!" she dug her heel in deep, "WHA TEH FUCK WOMAN!"

"A week's worth Dammad. You will make up for lost time by volunteering to be a test subject," The look in her eyes, shut Jarren up real quick.

"W-wait, hold on uh-ACK" at that point, Valus had removed her foot, but had reached down to grab Jarren's ankle, and with strength that one would not expect of a lithe female, began to literally drag the male across the school grounds. Jarren could only grab at grass in a vain attempt to slow her down, words limited to saying the trolless' name and cursing. Before with whimpered curses he was dragged up a wheelchair and vanished into the depths of the dorms. Blood splattered grass trailing towards the dorms and the male's frisbee, was all that remained of Jarren outside.


	28. I Hate Sleep Walking

The past two weeks had been... rather uneventful actually. There were other duels, both in and outside of class, other conflict and drama sure, but as was average for an inter-species university, it was still rather peaceful. Gamzee personally, had been rather pleased. Many things had gone right during those passing days. He wasn't sure what exactly happened, but Karkat had started to come towards his group of highblood friends more and more, requesting that he eat lunch with him. Well... not necessarily requesting, more like demanding. Not that he minded, that's how his bro always had been. The first time it had happened, to say that some of his fellow highblood's had acted somewhat... pissed, was an understatement. Valus had looked as though she were about to pull out one of her creepy vials, until Gamzee had stood and joined Karkat without a word. Then her face had been, well, quite frankly hilarious. Actually, all of their faces had been quite amusing. Jarren seemed to be the only one who was neutral to the whole ordeal, though he had been nursing a rather awkward limp, and some strange infection that Valus had simply brushed off as 'science'.

There was one other thing that had gone through well, his art professor had approved of the painting he wished to do for Karkat. Saying that he could use his piece to demonstrate the flow of lines and proper uses of shading and highlights. Honestly, that was one of his favorite classes, not only because he did enjoy drawing, but when it came to painting, using such varieties of colors seemed to sate that darker part of himself. It may be somewhat disturbing, but he could imagine the colors he used in the paintings, to be blood, and as strange as that was, it did serve to make him feel a bit more at ease.

But back to the present. It was Saturday evening, Tansis was at a rehearsal for an upcoming show, Valus was busy on some kind of assignment, and Jarren had growled something out about working on a technique. Leaving Gamzee with a rare moment, of having nothing really to do. He debated going to the music room, he had spoken to a human who had mentioned they had a recording room there. Maybe he could talk to the teacher, see if he could make record of a recent slam he had been working on. But no, they were probably gone for the night. Saturday evening, most college students, human or troll, had other things they wanted to do. Even at the 'prestigious' Skaia U.

Gamzee Makara on the other hand... well actually, something real fun had just appeared out of the corner of his eye. Yeah, that looked like fun, and after words, he could text Karkat, see if the cancer was up to anything and wanted to chill or something. Maybe they could watch some of his bro's romcoms. Gamzee never really understood those crappy things, but Karkat enjoyed them, and he could always go for quality bro time. For now though, he had a tree to climb.

The hoodie he wore with a troll skull adorning cloud paint printed on the front, and some unknown band written in trollian on the back, hindered his process just slightly, though the worn out sneakers didn't necessarily help either. There were honks, near slips, and shallow scraped palms, but the Capricorn made it, climbing as high as the branches would allow his weight, before perching there, and listening to his new found tree brother. There was a brief blink, as the indigo-eyed male seemed to remember a dream he had a few weeks ago, when Karkat had slept in his room.

Man, he hoped this tree didn't try to have a rap off with him, he didn't want to hurt the wicked branch bearers feelings by slamming him back into a seedling with his mirthful rhymes.

-

With a little help from his mustard blooded friend, Karkat was managing to keep his grades up so far, they weren't the best they could absolutely be, but none went lower than what would be equivalent to a C. So he was happy. It was better than he thought he'd be able to do, and sometimes he did need a little help, but he managed to get through it okay. Best of all no more surprise attacks from that purple blooded asshole who was still healing from his leg injury.

On top of that, no horrific nightmares, and no delusions. Granted this was because he did stop sleeping again, he was starting to reconsider it. There were good and bad things to this, the bad being, of course, that he couldn't keep this up forever, it'd kill him. The good being that it was a pretty nice alternative to horrific nightmares and delusions.

So that was what led him to the idiocy he was doing right now.

Karkat stood in front of his recooporacoon, staring it down like it was an old enemy he hadn't seen in sweeps. In a way, it was true, he didn't use the thing for much. Granted it had been used (and cleaned out) two weeks ago when he was nursing that dislocated shoulder. He had the school nurse (there were two separate ones, one troll and one human, for obvious reasons) who simply snapped his arm back into place and told him to use sopor slime to dull the pain until it went away, or whatever. He didn't like being in his recooporacoon after so much time without it. But he couldn't deny the comfort that the slime did offer. Recooporacoons were amazing things, sure they had to be cleaned out every now and then, but just leave them be and they naturally produced sopor slime which had a calming effect on trolls, something that put their mind at ease and relaxed them, soothed away pain. He had used sopor slime before he discovered the eye drops, rubbing it on his eyelids and keeping them closed for nearly an hour before the pain finally widdled away to nothing.

He took his shoes and socks off, throwing them near the door, as well as his jacket, but kept his pants and shirt on as he slid into the slime soaked container, biting on his lower lip. Great, the more he thought about his brilliant plan to willingly go asleep and hope that the nightmares would leave him alone the more this idea was starting to sound really retarded in his own think pan.

He sighed as he laid down at the bottom of the gunk, too tense to relax, he ended up having to think about each muscle letting go before he was able to just lay there limp, face curled tightly into a frown as he rolled over onto his side, feeling some of the slime cling to his hair and back. He stretched his legs and arms out, and curled into a more comfortable position that felt more natural. Red eyes glanced around the inside of the pod, as if suspicious, before he sighed a second time, finally willing himself to close his eyes, and go to sleep.

. . .

It was all a blur when he tried to look back on it. He remembered getting up from his recooporaoon, or a hole in the floor, he couldn't remember which when his dreams blurred with reality and turned into delusions like that. He remembered running from something that was coming after him. He didn't know what it was, only that he couldn't let it catch him. There was no fear in it, no terror, though, he simply knew it should not catch him. Stupid, retarded dream logic probably. So he simply walked to get away from it, at a calm pace, only running when he could actually see it's massive, bright eyes behind him or in front of him, or had those been car headlights?

He finally woke up from the sleep walking by the noise of a very angry cat that had just had it's tail stepped on by him. The noise startled him awake, causing him to jump and blink. When the fuck had a cat gotten into his-this was not his room. "The fuck?" he demanded, glancing around the sidewalk he had found himself on, the most confused expression in the world plastered all over his face. Okay, seriously, where the hell was he? Last thing he knew he was in his damn room and then he had this stupid dream about a giant maze.

He bit down on his lower lip, something he often did when he was confused or worried (in the past, he had done it only when consumed with rage). It was cold out, and he was in some stinky street littered with garbage and he was pretty sure that unmoving lump of fur other there was a dead cat. He had only his pants and shirt (Shoes, jacket, and socks were left at home, apparently).

He was pretty sure someone was pulling a prank on him, backing up and pushing his back to the wall, using his arms to hug himself in an attempt to keep warm as he tried to rub some warmth back into his arms, but no one seemed to be in sight. He thought back to his dream, remembered various things from it, and realized something. "Oh Hell I did not sleep walk all the way out here fucking really?" He muttered under his breath, scowling now. Great, he didn't even originally live in this fucking city how was he going to get his way back?

Red eyes glared down at the cement sidewalk as he began to search through his pockets. He didn't have his sickles on him, they were in his jacket back at the dorm, but hopefully his cellphone was still in his pocket, he didn't remember taking it out. Pocket one, nothing, pocket two, nothing, pocket three, thank you god who may or may not exist.

He pulled out his cellphone, and immediately dialed Sollux's number, and then held the device up to his ear as he listened to it ring.

And ring.

And ring.

And ring.

That bastard was asleep wasn't he?

FUCK!

Karkat swore loudly at the phone, a woman who had been walking with her daughter nearby threw a glare at him (not that he cared) and slapped her hands around her child's ears to prevent the precious darling from hearing such fowl language, and hurried her along. He growled, and tried again, and once more after that, but all three calls went unanswered, and his phone began to beep erratically, warning him of a low battery. He swore again, more viciously this time, before opening up his contacts list. There were only three people on there, really, Terezi (why couldn't he bring himself to delete it?), Sollux, and now, Gamzee, since Sollux had kinda forced them all into exchanging phone numbers about a week ago. Sollux was asleep, Terezi was halfway around the fucking world and there was no way he'd call her for help, so that left only one option.

Great, his only option was the sopor-slime eating shit-head.

He growled again, hand convulsing around the phone so hard that it gave a small creak in retaliation to being crushed, before he loosened his grip, and reluctantly hit call. He didn't want to be stranded out... wherever the fuck he was right now, all night. Or get robbed or something. This looked like a more... well... horrible part of town, gangs and what not that humans came up with, and for all the others liked to preach about the two species getting along, when you got down to it, they hated each other, most did anyway.

Right here, right now-!

Gamzee jerked awake, the sudden movement causing him to loose balance on whatever the hell he had been sleeping on, and fall to one side. There was a dangerous creak, the world spinning in the indigo blood's eyes, before on some unknown instinct the muscles in his legs tightened knees hooking around his narrow perch, and stopping what could have been a very dangerous fall.

"Woah"

Sleep blurred eyes glanced around at the tangle of what at first appeared to be serpents and thorns, before the fog of dreams somewhat cleared, and Gamzee realized he was looking at the branches of a tree. It took a few seconds more, for him to realize that he was hanging upside down from said tree branch, via his knees on the wicked limb he had fallen asleep upon. Man, he must have fallen asleep in the arms of his now found foliage brother, he had been all kinds of comfortable. Though now he was confused, because as much giggle mirth as it was to be hanging upside down and have his blood pool happily in his think pan, he had to wonder what woke him up. Until the sound of a ring tone going on it's second and final round, caught his attention. Oh hey! That was the song he had situated on his ringing device for Karkat.

I'm at war with the world  
>'Cause I ain't never gonna sell my soul<br>I've already made up my mind  
>No matter what, I can't be bought -<p>

Gamzee fished his phone out of his jeans pocket as quickly as possible, trying to beat the ringer before it ended and went to voice-mail. A triumphant grin lit his lips as he flipped open the phone and brought it to his ear hole, "Hey motherfucker, did you know your fucking ring song can make a brother have his vascular pump reset?"

"What?" Okay it really didn't matter. "Whatever, do you know your way around town? Long story short I got fucking lost" Karkat spat into the phone, walking over towards the street a little and situating himself on a bench, pulling his legs up to his chest as he tried to conserve heat.

Gamzee gave his head a weird sort of tilt, somewhat awkward seeing as he was still hanging upside down, "I got my mind around some of the navigational places. How'd you get located in lost city? You know it's kind of motherfucking cold out."

"I don't want to talk about it, it's stupid" Karkat replied simply, and then glanced around, squinting those red eyes to try and catch a glimpse of some nearby stores. "Fuck, this probably isn't very helpful, but I just see a lot of clothing stores. Anne's fabrics, Micheal's fashion depot, JC Pennys, and some other places. Hold up, I think I see a street sign" He tried to explain the area around him, frowning as he moved away from the bench and, shivering whilst he did so, moved more towards the end of the street, trying to read the street sign at the edge. "Uhh, I think the street sign says twenty-seventh av-" And then his phone beeped, and shut off on him.

"OH SON OF A BITCH"

Gamzee held the phone in front of his gaze, staring at the screen where a large 'call disconnected' flashed. The Capricorn's eyes narrowed, brows knitting together, as with a grunt, he tightened his abdominal muscles and pulled himself upright. There was slight disorientation as all the blood that had been pooling in his head rushed to the rest of his body, though that quickly faded. After all he had other things to worry about. Karkat had said that he could see some clothing stores, mostly human based ones by the sounds of it. The only reason he knew even one of those names, was because Tansis had dragged him along for clothes shopping on more than one occasion.

_Twenty-Seventh Ah?_

He would assume Karkat had about to say Twenty-Seventh Avenue, seeing as the word Street or Road didn't begin with A. But still... that was a fairly long stretch of road, and Gamzee wasn't aware of what the danger level of that part of town was. His fingers twitched, and before he knew it, his body was moving of it's own accord, starting a hastened climb out of the tree. He stumbled briefly when those shoes made contact with the moist ground, though balance was quickly regained, and the Capricorn was sprinting towards the dorms. Man, he was probably hastening over nothing, but he couldn't help the nervous twist in his gut.

As he fumbled with his dorm door, hunted down the hiding keys to his racer styled motorcycle, slipped on boots, and took off. In his head, he was tracing a map of what he knew of the city, attempting to recall the names of streets as he jumped down the front steps of the dorms, and hurried towards the parking lot. Barely aware of a low growl of thunder from above.


	29. It Just Had To Fucking Rain

Karkat finished swearing violently to himself as his phone died, and shoved it angrily back in his pocket. 27Th Avenue, North East, perpendicular to another street called Sitular Street (probably named after some stupid human celebrity or something, he didn't care). He hugged his arms around his chest again, shivering in the cold night air as he turned and made his way back down to the bench. Okay, maybe if he tried to remember which way he came from, remember the turns and what not he took when he was dreaming, he could figure out his way back. He plopped down onto the wooden seating, and just as he managed to get himself some degree of comfortable, he heard a clap of thunder, and looked up.

"It cannot seriously start fucking rai-" He began, but was interrupted by a second clap, followed by a slash of light, and then the next thing he knew, it was pouring. He scowled, jumping up from the bench and running over to the side of a building, shivering as he tried to get in some place out of the rain, but unlike most parts of the city, this section didn't seem to have any kind of cover like an empty phone booth or a tree, nothing. Of fucking course, this was just his awful as shit luck.

Within minutes, the red blooded troll was soaked, he gnashed his teeth together, and went back to the bench, might as fucking well keep sitting there, standing next to the building wasn't doing much anyway. At least he'd be able to sit down.

Gamzee had just brought his cycle to life, and was starting to pull out of the parking lot, when a flash of lightning over the city, caused him to give pause, eyes averting upwards to follow the line of the spidery streak in the brief seconds it was alive. Then, downtown's sky scrapers gradually began to fade, indicating rain, and not even ten seconds later, Gamzee could feel rogue droplets on his head and coat. Damn, he'd better get his move going. The cycle's engine revved, and he pulled towards the gate, showing the guard his student ID, before the gate rolled open. There was a squeal of too quickly romped tires against dampening pavement, before Gamzee and the black and purple spotted cycle, were but a flash and stream of head and tail lights.

The Capricorn slowed as he came to each street, eyes skimming over the name, before snarling his machine back to life and continuing on. He drove until he was nearly downtown, the rain pounding into him. The cool, unforgiving droplets feeling like small pebbles slamming against him at the increasing speed, slowing to a gentle patter at the decreasing. Despite the gradually slick roads, the limiting visibility, and the numbness that was twitching at his fingers, Gamzee's pace didn't slow in the slightest. In fact, he began speeding up and circled some blocks multiple times. For the reason that, in his growing internal anxiety, he couldn't remember what streets he had already crossed.

That, and the rain was starting to mess with his mind a little bit. It wasn't the darkness so much, troll's were originally built to be nocturnal after all, but he was beginning to see images in the sheets of water that fell from the heavens. Fuck, when was the last time he recharged on sopor?

He was at a stoplight, the motorcycle idling beneath him, when he finally managed to capture a break. There was a whisper at the back of his mind, and the male looked up. Through the street lights reflected in the rain, he could just make out one of the blue signs, [i]19 Avenue West[/i]. Motor snarled, and Gamzee took off away from the street, heading towards the next one, and to his relief, the numbers started going up. Gas was twisted, the clutch pressed, and the Capricorn took off, sliding tires sliding dangerous against the pavement. Okay, get to 27 and head East, then all he'd have to do is look for the stores Karkat had mentioned, and he'd be able to find the male's general location.

Karkat gave up attempting to talk to the people around him. A group of kids had run past him earlier, avoiding him and giving him big, buggy eyes when he asked them which way Skaia university might be, like he was going to eat them if they answered wrong or something. He tried asking a man who had been walking by, attempting to get out of the rain, but just got a somewhat snotty grunt in reply, at which point, he decided fuck these humans he was going to figure it out on his own.

Dammit, why hadn't his sleep walking self been smart enough to grab a fucking map, or even a damn coat or something?

It had taken all of five minutes for Gamzee to figure out which way East was. After he had gone the wrong way and noticed a gradual decrease in buildings instead of increase. The error had been corrected quickly enough, though the lost in time had caused that uneasy feeling to increase. Now, he was pushing dangerous speeds down 27 Avenue heading East, focus split between glancing at building names, and the sidewalk. After all, Karkat hadn't asked him to come get him. Maybe he would have tried to walk back?

Indigo eyes were narrowed against the persistent rain, flinching only slightly whenever drops came dangerously close to his eyes. Yet his motorcycle stayed steady, the movements smooth, even as the tires slid against the wet pavement. Yet, despite the close moments where he was a breath away from disaster, his heart beat remained steady. That was until he zoomed past something that could or could not be a hunched troll sitting on a bench, and a JC Penny's to one side. Brakes were nearly slammed, tires, skidded, and the motorcycle slid until it was balancing on it's front tire. Gamzee however, hardly seem fazed, he leaned back, putting his weight on his hips to keep the cycle from tipping forward and twisted, causing the bike to pivot and do a complete U-ey, minus the U.

To the unhappy pleasure of a honking car and angry unknown driver.

The motorcycle's engine revved, but pulled out a much easier rate, going the wrong way on the street for a brief moment, driving past the benched troll again, but only for a few seconds, before he turned around and pulled up on the sidewalk, ignoring the few humans that lashed out angry remarks, as he came to a stop in front of the bench. That normal uncontrollable mess of hair was nearly flat, lumped awkwardly against his skull, clinging to his neck and horns as that smile on paint streaked lips, pulled to nearly reveal fangs. Well, not just his lips, his entire face was streaked as he did not have a helmet or anything else shielding his cranium from the elements. "Man Karkat, the rain has got some serious hearts for you."

There was no way Karkat could mistake that wild mane of black hair and slightly curved horns, what fooled him was the motorcycle. He merely stared for a few moments at the troll, eyes flickering back and forth between the bike's owner and the bike itself. And before he could stop himself, his mouth was running. "What the fuck possessed you to get a motorcycle?" He asked, and then shook his head, wait, that wasn't the point here. "Whatever, is that your only way back to the dorms?"

Not that he had anything against motorcycles, hell he was uncomfortable enough on buses. So sue him if he was more comfortable on his feet then in a metal case of death with wheels that ran on an explosive substance.

Gamzee laughed, a small, bubbling sound. Though it didn't show on the outside, he was relieved in truth, to see that Karkat (besides wet like a drowned cat) was otherwise fine. "Miss Mirth here is a wicked bitchtit of a two-wheel device, I knew we could have some serious synchronization since the moment I got my see on her. It was like a motherfucking sign... but yeah bro, she's the only way back to HQ. If you're all worried about getting more water clinging to ya, then I think you'll be fairly sated. When we get flying, most of the water will be hitting me, so you should be able to get nice and comfy." The idea that someone might be more hesitant of the motorcycle itself than the rain, seemed to not have registered with the highblood at all, as he offered out a hand for Karkat to grab and use to keep balance if he should choose to swing a leg and hop on. Not that the Cancer had very many options open to him at this point.

Miss Mirth? He named the fucking thing? Karkat had to bite down on his tongue to keep from commenting on the retarded as hell name. He didn't want to piss off Gamzee enough to have him refuse to get him back to the dorms and he really didn't want to spend the fucking night out here waiting for Sollux to answer. Granted he was pretty sure Gamzee would take just about any insult Karkat threw at him, he was just too used to dealing with people who had no problem ditching him if they happened to be a little annoyed. He wouldn't hold it against them for long, honestly it was amazing to him how easily Sollux and Gamzee managed to brush off his comments.

But still, he didn't want to get on that two wheeled device of destruction. It just gave him a bad feeling, and on top of that, it kinda required close contact for two people to ride it, and Karkat was so not comfortable with that. Fuck he didn't even like shaking hands.

But did he really have a choice?

The troll sighed, a somewhat unsure look crossing his face as he chewed slightly on his bottom lip, waiting a few seconds and seeming to consider it before finally giving in and walking over. He knew how to get on a motorcycle, it didn't take much common sense to do it right even if one had never done so before, but still, just to keep from making himself look like a total idiot in case he ended up slipping or something due to being all wet, he did accept some of Gamzee's help, using the other male's extended hand to balance himself as he swung one leg over and got onto the damn bike, obviously very uncomfortable. "Like this right? Does this thing even have any sort of safety features like a belt or something?"

The indigo blooded troll glanced over his shoulder, adjusting somewhat to the awkward feel of someone else behind him, one paint smeared eyebrow raising in silent amusement, though he was with-holding the urge to laugh once more. A belt, on a motorcycle? Well yeah, he'd seen them on some cycles but, "Nah brother, shit can be more dangerous if we crash on a two wheeled device and are strapped in. It's all motherfucking safer to not be latched on so that we can all roll free if she slides. Don't get your hell worry though, I haven't crashed yet and I've had her for nearly a sweep. Watch the exhaust pipe, that part gets real hot, and when we make turns, keep all straight and aligned with the cycle, don't lean with her" and then he turned, giving the motor a few test revs, listening to 'Miss Mirth' as she purred happily beneath his finger tips, lips pulling a broad smile as she sounded as clean running as ever.

"It might be in the wise if you get your arms clinging around my upper abdominal area. You in the ready?"

Okay yeah now that he thought about it, a seat belt on this thing was a rather stupid idea. Though as the exhaust pipe was mentioned and the fact that he had to move with the damn bike to help it not tip over, make him glance backwards at the small bit of machinery behind him.

Each beat of his heart was sending a single thought, repeatedly, through his brain. This is stupid, thump, this is stupid, thump, this is stupid, thump, this is stupid, thump. The continuing chant of 'THIS IS STUPID' only got louder when Gamzee told him to hold onto him, the shorter troll scowled, but decided that since he had never ridden a motorcycle before, and now that he looked at it he could really fall off, simply complied, grumbling something beneath his breath.

"Ready as I'll ever be" he muttered, his voice less than excited.

Gamzee simply smiled, though Karkat clearly couldn't see it as the male was facing forward. As soon as he felt foreign arms slipping securely around his abdomen, he eased into the clutch, and propelled the cycle gently forward. The vehicle gave a very small lurch as it thumped off the sidewalk, the Capricorn directing the cycle in the opposite direction he had arrived, and steadily increasing the speed, keeping it as smooth as one could in heavy rain and thunder.

However, as soon as he had adjusted to the unfamiliar feeling of a second person on his cycle, and figured out how the bike moved with the extra weight, he let loose. The rain pelted him, but he barely felt it, his face and fingers having long since gone numb. Part of him kept aware of Karkat, though it was hard to read how the male was reacting without looking at him. He didn't want to scare the male, Gamzee had heard his share of stories of how many a motorcycle accident had been caused by a panicked passenger. Not that he was in the thinking that Karkat would actually full on panic, but still, didn't hurt to be somewhat careful.

If he saw a bump coming, he slowed so that they wouldn't be jerked to roughly, he did the same on turns, giving the Cancer some warning before making them, by leaning the cycle just slightly to the side, before navigating it to an angle necessary to make the turn. He was tempted, great mirthful messiahs he was tempted to tear around the corners and fly through the rain as he would have done by himself. The hold on his waist kept his think pan grounded, and when they were nearly there, he gave a shout over the roar of the motor and the pelt of rain, "You holding up Karkat?"

Oh dear gog this was fucking terrifying.

The instant the speed had been kicked up, Karkat's arms might as well have become a belt around Gamzee's waist. Within seconds Karkat decided that he was never going to ride this thing again unless his life depended on it.

Not to mention the view of the landscape flying by them, the knowledge that all it would take was a single, wrong movement, and he'd possibly send them both skidding across the ground, made his stomach do flip flops, so he fixed this issue by doing something to keep himself from throwing up, and basically buried his face into Gamzee's back and kept his bright red eyes as tightly shut as possible. Save for his arms, legs, and his neck (which was getting sore from being so tense) he let his body go somewhat lucid so that he could keep himself straight and not turn with the bike and make it fall or something.

As Gamzee asked him how he was holding up, however, the only response was a short string of muffled swears. Which probably meant he was doing okay if he had the thought to be angry and swear rather than flipping the fuck out.

Gamzee's grin grew somewhat, as he zero'd in on the faint sound of the muffled words and the very slight movement at his back. Man, if his bro's limbs stayed that tense, it'd be almost like he was hitting rigor mortises'. Karkat really needed to relax more, live in the moment and just let all that motherfucking stress go. Life was all kinds of fleeting, so easy to loose, so easy to take. Might as well sit back and enjoy the ride.

Fingers twisted, and the motorcycle sped up once more as they reached the home stretch, the dark silhouettes of Skaia University's buildings looming as he went around the brick and steel barrier towards the parking lot. It was at that moment, that Gamzee came to a conclusion. So far he'd been staying chill, waiting for his bro to come to him whenever he felt like it or wanted to. Maybe he needed to start taking some action of his own, start inviting his bro to go do things. Yeah, he'd show his best motherfucker how to feel the world, make some seriously wicked memories. Until Karkat could remember the old, he'd simply start making some new ones. That way whenever his mind was all back in the know of everything, he'd have a double whammy of mirth time.

Happy thoughts somewhat dimmed though, because then his thought pan processed that maybe he was repressing some bad memories too. His psychology professor was in the mention that sometimes that happens with instances that were traumatic... if that was the case, maybe it was best that he stayed forgotten, so that way his bro wouldn't have to relive unhappy dark times. Well damn, that was some depressing thoughts. Gamzee eased on the brake, slowing down and navigating around Karkat's death grip to get into his pocket, pulling out his ID for the guard, so that he'd open the parking lot gate again. It was late now, and understandably, the campus grounds were all but deserted. Not very many people or trolls were willing to walk around in the pouring rain. In silence, he pulled into one of the parking spots, straightening and bracing his boots against the pavement, before turning the key and letting Miss Mirth go back into dream land.

"There you go bro, safe as a fresh wrapped wriggler. Careful as you get your move off, the pipe's going to be extra spicy hot now," his voice gave no real hint at the thoughts that had been floating around his pan, as one hand reached down to poke the male's arm around his abdomen with a muffled honk.

Karkat pretty much refused to let go until he heard the motorcycle's engine shut off, at which point, he forced his strained arms to relax their grip, his fingers hurting from being locked so tightly around each other, and unpeeled his face from Gamzee's back, blinking to refocus his vision after keeping them shut so tightly. He felt kinda awkward right now, for many different reasons he wasn't going to rerun over his brain. It was just simplest to say that his fucking romcoms had way too many romantic scenes involving motorcycles or something like that for him to be comfortable with the situation. He knew it was nothing like that, but his stupid brain still bothered him.

He was extra careful of the aforementioned pipe as he slid off, surprised the guard to the campus grounds hadn't asked for his ID as well, but then again, Karkat was kinda small for a 8-9 sweep old male troll, and it was dark out, and the guard probably wasn't looking too hard. Good thing since Karkat didn't really have his ID on him, so whatever. "Yeah..." He responded simply, sliding off the bike, and managing to get the feeling back in his legs. Riding a bike was fucking weird, all the vibration seemed to have ripped the feeling from his legs like they had fallen asleep, or maybe it was just a first time thing.

Gamzee waited, ever patient, until Karkat made his safe slide from the two-wheeled machine, boot pulling out the kickstand before he fully stood and took his weight off of the cycle. He hummed lightly to himself, as he swung his leg with practiced ease over the seat, and came to a stand, stretching his back as he sighed at the pulled muscles provided a nice release to what little tensity the male had. He didn't even notice the slight numb in his legs that riding a motorcycle provided, having long since grown used to the feeling, as he turned to Karkat with a simple smile, "Well brother, besides nearly squeezing the air out of my breath sacks, you rode like a motherfucking pro."

The Capricorn gave a silent sort of pause for all of a few seconds, he had turned about to step on the side walk, but a thought had locked his limbs, and he looked back to the Cancer. That smile was still on his face, though it had lowered a fraction of an inch, making it look distorted with the paint smeared over his face, "You all okay Karkat?" Man, maybe his near sober brain was messing with him again.

"I'm fine" Damn, he said that a bit quick didn't he? Nevertheless, he just shook his head, sighing. "it's just fucking cold and I'm soaking wet" He pointed out simply, motioning towards himself as he began to head towards the dorm building, a hard look on his face as he shivered.

The indigo blood gave a sort of blink at the quick response, doing a once over of the male after he pointed out that he was cold, taking notice finally, of exactly what the male was wearing... and the lack of some items. Karkat was barefoot? Gamzee was all for feet getting their break up with possessive shoes, but why and how did the Cancer end up on the other side of the city, without any step covers? He fell into stride next to Karkat, his think pan attempting to process and rationalize that... though, rationalization wasn't really the male's strong point.

"Man, how did you end up located on the other side of the city without any feet oppressors?"

"I don't know, okay? I fucking woke up after trying to sleep and I was in the middle of a goddamn street" Karkat hissed back, deciding to just go with a simplified explanation of the whole ordeal. Way easier than explaining he had slept walked all the way out there.

"Woah," Gamzee held up his hands with a smile brushing his lips, "Sorry bro, just getting my curiosity rotating. Seemed kind of motherfucking weird is all."

Karkat didn't bother replying, not until the two were finally inside the damn modified apartment building and each was standing in front of their own door. As Gamzee passed him heading to his own room, Karkat opened his door, but paused.

"Thanks... for helping me get back here, I mean" he stated simply, his voice sounding almost quiet, defeated, and then he disappeared into his room, the door slamming shut behind him.

Gamze stared in silence at the slammed door, that smile still there, though it was attached in a way that just didn't fit. Quiet. "... No problem best friend," it was but a murmur from his lips, a knob was turned, and his room was entered. Damn, he needed some serious pie ingestion.


	30. Sunday morning contact

Oh look, it's our resident pesterchum psychopath.

And here is another edition of 'TenaciousObsession pisses off Gamzee and drives him into a batshit rage' for your amusement

~ 3 **Eren S. **

* * *

><p>TO: Good moruiug highblood~!<br>TO: HeeHeeHee  
>TC: hEY mOtHeRfUcKeR<br>TO: I have au idea~  
>TO: As to where yon are<br>TO: = : )  
>TC: iS ThAt aLl sItUaTeD In sOvIlLe?<br>TO: HeeHeeHee  
>TO: I kuow that yon are iu a nuiversity<br>TO: I've uarrowed it dowu to three choices~  
>TC: WeLl lAy iT On mE CrEePy aSs fEmAlE<br>TC: EdUcAtE ThIs mOtHeRfUcKeR In tHe kNoW  
>TO: Euema State Nuiversity<br>TO: Skaia Nuiversity  
>TO: Or Tesla Graut College<br>TO: = : )  
>TC: MaN, GoTtA GeT In tHe aDmItTaNcE ThAt yOu wErE AbLe tO NaRrOw tHaT DoWn pReTtY MoThErFuCkInG QuIcK.<br>TO: I told yon that I wonld fiud him  
>TO: I'm so close to fiudiug ont which oue it is<br>TC: YeAh gUeSs yOu dId pLaCe mE In tHe kNoW AbOuT ThAt. mY PaN's aLl wOnDeRiNg hOw yOu'Re aLl uP AnD GeTtInG ThE NaRrOw dOwN.  
>TO: Aud why wonld I tell yon where I get my iuformatiou?<br>TO: HeeHeeHee  
>TC: No rEaSoN, CaN't bLaMe a mOtHeRfUcKeR FoR TrYiNg<br>TC: So cRaZy aSs bItChTiTs  
>TC: I'vE BeEn gEtTiNg aRoUnD WiTh tHe tHoUgHtS.<br>TC: AbOuT WhEn iN My bRo'S TiMe lInE DiD YoU GeT InTrOdUcTiOnS WiTh hIm?  
>TO: Ohhhh~<br>TO: It was so loug ago  
>TO: I thiuk abont three sweeps uow<br>TC: OkAy yEaH, ThAt aLl uP AnD CoNfIrMs sOmE IdEaS I'vE BeEn pRoCeSsInG. DoEsN't rEaLlY HeLp mY RaGe sYsTeMs.  
>TC: AnYtHiNg eLsE YoU WaNtEd tO GeT YoUr bRaIn wAvEs aImEd iN My dIrEcTiOn aBoUt?<br>TC: TaLkInG To yOu  
>TO: Talkiug to yon is fnu<br>TO: especially wheu yon get augry  
>TO: HeeHeeHee<br>TC: KeEpS PoKiNg aT My mOtHeRfUcKiNg cHiLl sYsTeM.  
>TC: To bAd tHeN<br>TC: I'm pReTtY FuCkInG ChIlL RiGhT NoW  
>TO: Awww, I bet I cau make yon mad<br>TO: = : )  
>TC: IcE CuBeS Be wIcKeD JeAlOuS<br>TC: I DoN't kNoW PaRrAlLeL SmIlEy, sHiT's pReTtY MiRaCuLoUs rIgHt nOw.  
>TO: HeeHeehee<br>TO: Did he tell yon what his uightmares are abont?  
>TO: What tormeuts him iu his sleep?<br>TO: Because  
>TC: No, i dOn'T GeT AnY PrEsSuRe gOiNg. iF He wAnTs tO InFoRm mE He wIlL<br>TO: I can tell you exactly what makes him scream  
>TC: bet i can motherfucking find out what makes you scream<br>TO: HeeHeeHee  
>TC: fuck you melted my ice cube<br>TC: MELTED IT IN FUCKING LAUGH LAND  
>TC: i was just getting comfy to<br>TC: now you got these wicked sick thoughts  
>TC: scratching<br>TC: FUCKING SCRATCHING THROUGH MY MOTHERFUCKING MIND  
>TO: oh~ bnt the game is jnst begiuuiug<br>TO: It doesu't start nutil I'm there  
>TO: Uot completely, auyway<br>TC: its all part of the game mystery blooded motherfucker  
>TC: IT ALL STARTED AT THE BEGINNING<br>TC: all at the motherfucking beginning  
>TC: HONK<br>TC: honk  
>TO: HeeHeeHee<br>TO: Exactly  
>TO: The game reaches it's midpoiut<br>TO: When my hands are wrapped around his throat  
>TC: and it reaches its end<br>TC: when ive got your blood in my world  
>TC: IN MY MOTHERFUCKING WORLD<br>TO: oh of course not! The game only ends when I say it does  
>TO: I make the rules, afterall<br>TC: DECORATING LIKE A MOTHERFUCKING MINSTREL  
>TC: the rules change brother<br>TC: not of the ringmasters rules  
>TC: but by the motherfucking acts<br>TC: RING AROUND THE MOTHERFUCKING FIRE BRO  
>TO: And the acts still follow all their parts<br>TO: I will still find my little missing toy  
>TO: And in the end<br>TO: That's the goal for me  
>TC: good<br>TC: MOTHERFUCKING GOOD  
>TC: thats were it starts for me<br>TC: clowns arent part of the acts motherfucker  
>TO: Clowns are only a distraction from the main event<br>TO: And I will make them scream and scream for more  
>TC: its not the motherfucking ringmasters people fear motherfucker<br>TC: NOT MOTHERFUCKING THEM  
>TC: i dont scream in terror bro<br>TC: not in terror  
>TC: HOOOOOONK<br>TC: honk honk  
>TO: HeeHeehee<br>TC: fuck my pan isnt happy  
>TC: so many motherfucking sights<br>TC: you know  
>TC: YOU MOTHERFUCKING KNOW<br>TC: if you hadnt gotten your terror with my best brother  
>TC: id probably get my like around you<br>TC: not that you all up and probably care  
>TC: NOT A FUCKING CARE IN THE MOTHERFUCKING WORLD<br>TC: happy honks from mirthful messiahs  
>TC: honk honk<br>TC: HONK HONK  
>TO: Life<br>TO: Is far too short, to spend it worrying  
>TO: HeeHeeHee<br>TO: I wonder  
>TO: If you see him bleeding when you get angry<br>TO: If the thought of killing him  
>TO: is just as common in your mind, as killing anyone else<br>TC: i had my thought around it once  
>TC: ONCE UPON A MOTHERFUCKING TIME<br>TC: was motherfucking beautiful but  
>TC: it fucked with me<br>TC: FUCKING FUCKED WITH MY MIND  
>TC: i may have thought it more<br>TC: i don't motherfucking remember  
>TC: SHIT<br>TC: cant motherfucking remember  
>TO: HeeHeeHee<br>TO: How can you fight it?  
>TO: A color that vibrant, that rare<br>TO: A mutation that only occurs once in a thousand years  
>TO: I would give anything to play with it<br>TO: HeeHeeHee  
>TC: sopor brother<br>TC: MOTHERFUCKING POISON MIND SHIT  
>TC: i want to hurt him<br>TC: I DONT WANT TO HURT HIM  
>TC: fucking juggling act<br>TO: Let's see you go for a few days without that sopor slime  
>TO: And see what your thoughts are then<br>TO: You are trying to protect him from me  
>TO: When another danger<br>TO: Is right next to him  
>TO: because in that emotional connection, you could hurt him more than I ever could<br>TO: HeeHeeHee  
>TC: my brothers would like that<br>TC: BE ALL UP IN THE FUCKING MIRTH  
>TC: but i<br>TC: SHIT I CANT MOTHERFUCKING DO THAT  
>TC: not to Karkat<br>TC: BUT I WANTED TO  
>TC: but I didnt<br>TC: im not going to  
>TC: NOT MOTHERFUCKING GOING TO<br>TC: i dont motherfucking think so  
>TO: It will happen<br>TO: Your bloodline deems it so, I can see it  
>TO: Keep lying to yourself, but there will be a time<br>TO: And a place  
>TO: And it will be your fault<br>TC: what do you know about my blood streams  
>TO: HeeHeeHee<br>TC: WHAT DO YOU MOTHERFUCKING KNOW  
>TC: you dont got your see on who i am<br>TC: not motherfucking yet  
>TO: The color is enough for me to tell<br>TO: And the voices that sing in my ears  
>TO: They sing~ Oh how beautiful it sounds<br>TO: I want to be  
>TO: Fear<br>TO: And fear  
>TO: And fear<br>TC: if you know then you should know that i wont ever get my fear around  
>TC: WONT FEEL THAT MOTHERFUCKING TERROR<br>TO: You keep singing the same tune, highblood  
>TO: Something<br>TO: Is going to break, sooner or later  
>TC: i know<br>TC: ALREADY IN THE KNOW  
>TC: but<br>TC: it wont be for terror that ill motherfucking break  
>TC: JUST KEEP COVERING THAT MOTHERFUCKING HOLE MYSTERY BLOODED MOTHERFUCKER<br>TC: just keep it covered  
>TO: HeeHeeHee<br>TO: Well it seems as though my informant has contacted me  
>TO: As much as I would love to continue chatting with you, since it IS interesting<br>TO: I'm going to go talk to him now, see you again sometime, HeeheeHee

- - tenaciousObsession [TO] ceased pestering terminallyCapricious [TC] - -

Gamzee didn't break his husktop this time. But there was silence, long, maddening silence.

Then chaos.

...

"Gamzee?"

Valuss knocked against the door to room 8 for the third time since standing outside of the entryway. The sun was just starting to make it's way above the horizon, sending streams of light into the hallway, lighting up the dust particles in the air. The female highblood was dressed in casual attire... well, casual for her. Slacks with high heeled shoes, and a blouse that wrapped around her front. As always, her hair was in a bun... and her patience was going short. She could hear shuffling around the room, she knew he was in there. One hand with neatly trimmed claws reached forward, twisting the door knob testing, before finding it unlocked.

"Gamzee, I'm coming in... oh my gog."

It was everywhere.

At first she thought it was blood, but even though it dripped fresh, it was cool to the touch. Not to mention the smell was off. Sirens went off in Valus' head, telling her that something about this situation was wrong, screaming at her to run. But she took a step forward on the rainbow stained floor, light violet eyes skimming over the continuous 'honk' that was scribbled over the walls, splattered and dripping. The words uneven. Broken up from where their master had thrown in images. Alternating primarily, between a smiling and frowning text face, with a circle between the colon and parentheses. It was dark, the only light coming from the open door, the window of the room blocked by paint.

"By the curse of the netherbeasts," Valus whispered beneath her breath, "Gamzee?"

"Hey sis."

And then she was shoved against the wall, air knocked from her lungs, horns clacking against the surface as a sudden looming mass was upon her. Teeth bared in a hiss, she felt claws at her throat, a sharp pain as they dug into the flesh there. She blinked furiously, trying to get the stars to clear so she could actually see him. When she did, she felt as though her heart dropped to her stomach in dread. Because the first thing she saw, was bright indigo eyes, sharp, clear, and alert to the world. The rest of Gamzee was covered in a full spectrum of colors. From his head to toe, as if he had gone rolling down a fucking rainbow. Valus parted her lips to speak, but her words were choked off as Gamzee's grip tightened, his claws dug in deeper.

"Sh now Valus. Hush and shush, get your motherfucking listen on. Did I say you could enter?" she didn't reply, not right away, she was to focused on trying to breath, it took everything in her power not to fight Gamzee. She had seen him like this before, one wrong move or word, and she's be dead. Valus very much enjoyed living. "Well sis," one clawed hand released her throat, rising to trail along her cheek, cutting deep there. He seemed fascinated with the way her lighter colored bood dripped from the cut. "Did I grant permission for entrance?"

Valus swallowed, panic billowing around her vascular pump, before she finally responded, "No Grand Highblood."

There was a sickening crack as the female troll was thrown across the room. Effortlessly, as if she were a mere ragdoll. A gasp and hiss escaped from her lips as the world span around her. In her disorientation she was aware of laughter, of Gamzee's shadow which stretched across the floor and seemed to consume every ounce of light that leaked through.

"Educate yourself lesser blood, no one's allowed in the Dark Carnival, without a motherfucking ticket." and in the span of a few seconds he was upon her again, lifting her by the collar of her blouse with one hand, bending so that he could stare directly into her widened eyes, "MOTHERFUCKING TICKET!"

Then he froze, staring at her with wide, blank eyes before. "Honk," and he laughed, a cackling, maddening sound, before his free hand twisted, performing a slight of hand that nerely made it appear as if his spike juggling club had appeared from thin air. "HONK!" Then he let go of Valus and slammed his weapon into her shoulder. The spikes tore easily through clothes, and she let out a silent cry as she felt bone splinter and crack. She fell to the side, shaking. From fear yes, but also for an attempt at controlling her own self. From keeping her own mind in tact, as the pain turned into a sickening pleasure that spreaded like venom through her veins. Fighting the desire for more of it, to be the cause of it swirling.

She simply could not entertain such enjoyments now. To do so in the face of what she considered to be Gamzee's true face, would be a signature of death. She was not intent on dying today. Valus observed in her silent struggle to keep her own ideals down, to discover what had caused Gamzee to go sober. Watching in silence as he smiled at her blood on his club, wiping some of it off with one extended finger, before adding it to the masterpiece of his wall. She tensed, when a sudden frown fell on his lips, "Not motherfucking enough."

Oh shit.

Valus raced through her think pan, as she felt those made indigo eyes, slowly return to her, finally grasping at something. Hell, it was a worth a shot, "Grand Highblood, is the cause of your mirthful rage associated with Vantas?"

And Gamzee paused, that brightness in his eyes fading slightly, as a confusion twisted his paint soaked expression. "Karkat?"

Oh great merciful Gog the midget seemed to be some kind of anchor to Gamzee. "Yes Kar-ACK!" she flinched, as the juggling club found her stomach, angled so that it merely crushed not impaled, though she could feel it with painfully slow focus, as Gamzee gradually began to spin it, until the tip of one spike, slid just an inch into the soft flesh of her side.

"You ain't got the motherfucking right to say his MOTHERFUCKING NAME!"

"My apologies my lord Grand Highblood," she whimpered as he paused, not removing the spike or club, as he simply watched her for a long moment. Then strangely enough, he jerked away, the club falling with a heavy thunk to the ground as Gamzee backed lightning fast against the wall opposite to Valus. There was a wild look to his eyes, he was glancing back and forth, watching things that weren't there, hands limp to his side as if they had suddenly became useless. And he was flinching, and he was laughing, and he was honking.

Valus swallowed, a shiver tearing it's way down her side as she shifted, trying to keep her broken arm as still as possible. Gamzee wasn't in full sober mode yet. If he was, he wouldn't have backed away. Would have continued without remorse or hesitation. The female highblood would have attempted to make a get-a-way then, abscond to safety, if not for the fact Gamzee hadn't gone completely silent once again, was now watching her with a blank expression.

"I can't remember how many times I've thought of killing him."

She hesitated, swallowing awkwardly before making a carefully calculated risk, "M-Makara?"

"Valus, I can't motherfucking remember. I know I did once, but I'm not in the knowledge if I did anymore. I JUST DON'T MOTHERFUCKING REMEBER!" his hands were cradling his head then as he doubled over, shaking with barely controlled emotion, barely focused rage. "WHAT KIND OF SUBJUGGLATOR THINKS ABOUT KILLING HIS FUCKING MOIRAIL, what kind..." and then he was sliding to the ground, the semi-fresh paint on the wall bluring and mixing together, creating an ugly brown that seemed to stain the wall.

_A right one._ Though this she didn't state out loud, simply, very carefully stood, wincing as her shoulder gave a painful pull. She watched as Gamzee remained some silent, he was muttering to himself, hands flinching outwards on occasion as if he were about to stand or move, before pausing, and gradually coming back to either onto his head or face. There was brief hesitation, before she absconded as quickly as possible to the male's kitchen area. She had to blink in surprise, the place was incredible clean, compared to the paint stained living room.

With her good arm, Valus pulled open the refridgeration device, snatching a bag of green sopor balls, before heading back to the main room. This time, with greater caution, she stepped out of the doorway, and back to the pain stained area. Though Gamzee had not moved, in fact, now he was frozen. Arms limp at his sides, legs pulled up to his chest and eyes, still clear, but staring straight forward, sight-less. Until hesitantly, she balance the bag of hardened slimed on his knees.

Those dangerous indigo eyes came into focus for a brief moment, staring at the clear plactic sack in confusion, before a snarl fell on his lips, "I don't want that motherfucking poison."

"As you wish Grand Highblood." But she didn't make a motion to remove it from it's perch on Gamzee's knees, and neither did the male. A long silence followed, and the adrenaline that had pumped through Valus' veins was starting to fade, the pain in her wounds gradually increasing. Until Gamzee finally spoke again.

"Message the mustard blood, tell that filth pumping brother that she's getting closer." his voice was flat, eyes sightless again, though he stared directly up at the highblood female. There was brief misunderstanding in Valus' eyes, but before she could speak Gamzee cut in with an impatient, "Sollux Captor, i know you have your information wrapped around his number, NOW MOTHERFUCKING ABSCOND BEFORE I DECIDE TO KEEP THAT MOTHERFUCKING ARM."

Valus pressed the knob's lock mechanism, before closing the door to room 8, a shaky sigh coming from her lips as relief flooded her system. It was truly a beautiful sight, to see Gamzee revealed and so close to his prime form. Though she wasn't quite the masochist that she wanted to see that at the cost of her life. Amidst all that, she had forgotten why she had come to see Gamzee to begin with.

She stood in the hallway, a mix of paint and still dripping blood, before she finally pulled out her phone, and sent the message the annoying yellow tinted lowblood, turning to head away from the dorms, and towards the infirmary.

EI: thE granD highblqqD haS qrdereD mE tQ infqrM yqU thaT sqmE femalE iS gettinG clqsE. I assumE yqU arE awarE qF thE meaninG behinD sucH vaguE wqrdS.


	31. Enter new faces

Karkat had pretty much spent the entire night huddled in a sea of blankets, butt naked, in front of the heater in his bathroom, waiting for the shivering to finally stop. For a while, he was worried he might have hurt something inside, like maybe he should go to the hospital or something, but he decided to ride it out. Nevertheless, he did keep his cellphone nearby (on it's charger, of course) Just in case he began to feel sick or light headed. He may hate the hospital, but he would hate dying a lot more, so yeah, he'd deal.

There was no issues dealing with falling back asleep, his mind and body were left reeling from his fun little trip out into the rain and there was no way he even felt tired enough to pass out. Honestly, it was not soon enough that the sun finally came up and shined like a star right outside his window, the rays slipping underneath the bathroom door, and resting on the edge of the blanket pile. Karkat focused those red, red eyes on that thin spot of light before he finally pulled himself out of the pile of blankets, leaving them there as he stalked out of the bathroom, and quickly got dressed. He felt a lot better after his session in the bathroom with the heater, so he assumed all was well.

Though as much as he would love to stay in his dorm today and just relax after the somewhat embarrassing and awkward events of last night, he was kinda hungry. He didn't feel that way much, but ever since Gamzee had started eating lunch with him and Sollux he found himself getting hungrier more often and he wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing. But either way, eating was better than not eating, so unlike with his sleep, he didn't fight against it. So he left, before the noise in the room eight began, before it would inevitably, had he been there to hear it, draw him into entering to try and help.

He stepped out of the dorm building, and began to head towards a student cafe nearby, it was probably pretty empty at this time of day, so that was good, no crowds and no noise to deal with. There were only two other people in there when he walked in. A troll girl a few inches shorter than she was (Karkat stood at five foot five, but this girl was only around five foot or so) with a weird, blue helmet on her head and a too-big green jacket, and a -HUGE- troll with cracked sunglasses, one of his horns having been broken off. They didn't notice him, Karkat only paid them a simple glance, feeling something in his mind click and want to look back, but he didn't, only stepped forward to the counter.

He bought a beagle with some cream cheese (As much as he used to badmouth human food, some of it actually tasted really good. Cream Cheese was one of his favorites though he would never admit that). He paid, grabbed a plastic knife from the nearby recepticle bin, and then took a table on the far left in the corner. Some of the tables were different sizes for people who had groups, Karkat was by himself, so he took a two person table, since there were no single spaces.

He enjoyed his meal, though about halfway through it, he noticed that the girl at the other table kept looking over at him almost like she was nervous. He tried to ignore it, but he started getting suspicious that the guy was looking at him as well, but it was hard to tell with those shades covering his eyes. Okay, this was fucking creepy. He almost didn't notice the group of blue bloods that came in, or at least, he wouldn't have had they not been chatting up a fucking storm. He snarled a little to himself as the peace and quiet was ruined, and tried to eat the rest of the beagle in peace before they took notice of him, but he just couldn't shove the damn thing down his throat fast enough, and soon, a highblood had perched herself on the edge of his table.

"Oh~ Look, it's little wriggler Vantas~" She teased, giving a high, tight, cruel laugh, her ponytail bobbing behind her head. "Shouldn't you be going out with your lusus? Surely you aren't old enough to be out here on your little lonesome"

"Sorry to hear that you're fucking blind, but it's painfully obvious that I'm as old as you are. Just because I don't use eyes alone as a method of fucking judging a troll's age. Why don't you assholes go find someone else to bother, someone who gives a flying fuck" Ohhh she did not like that, he could tell by the scowl that crawled over her face, and the shocked look on some of the other's who had followed behind her, before it turned hostile.

"Listen you little scum-" She began, but was inturrupted as one of her highblood friends was suddenly tackled to the ground, by none other than the girl with the stupid blue helmet.

"You meanies leave Karkitty alone!" The troll girl demanded, her bright green eyes narrowed in what almost seemed to be a pout over her face. The blueblood who had been sitting at her table ran over at once, sweating like he was sitting in a fucking sauna.

"Oh my... Nepeta... this is inappropriate"

"I won't apologize unless they do!"

"GUH! You fucking lowbloods are insane! We're outta here" The blue blooded female shouted, a growl showing all her perfectly cared for fangs as she slid off the table, pushed the other girl, Nepeta apparently, off her fellow highblood, and the group stalked away, leaving Karkat alone with the insanely strong looking blue blood male and the weird girl who kinda reminded him of cats.

Wait

wait wait wait

Karkitty?

Karkat stared at the cat troll, Nepeta, eyes narrowed suspiciously as a grimace slowly crept up onto his face. She smiled to herself, little fangs poking out from beneath her lips, but as she saw the look on his face, it faded.

"How do you know my name?" Karkat demanded, a snarl in his voice as he glared at the girl. She looked at him as though he had slapped her across the face, green eyes becoming wide as she moved up to her feet, her fingers picking at her sleeves as she seemed to stumble mentally on the question, processing it and searching for an answer.

"Uh...uh... w-well... uh..." She stuttered, and the blueblood came to her rescue, frowning a little as he dabbed at his forehead with a towel (That he seemed to have spawned from midair).

"We heard of you through an associate known as Sollux Captor" He explained in his somewhat soft, carefully controlled voice. Karkat wasn't sure wether to believe them or not, it just seemed... odd to him. If they knew Sollux, why hadn't he ever seen them before? Why would Sollux be talking about him to strangers, for that matter? It made him uncomfortable that people knew who he was without him knowing about them. With highbloods it was understandable, he scared them because of how much balant disregard he showed for blood lines, and because of his friendship with Gamzee, it gathered attention to him. But with this blueblood and Nepeta, there was no reason for them to know them.

Karkat didn't respond for a bit, just kept that harsh look on his face as he stared at the two, colorless eyes narrowed suspiciously. But then again, they did help him get those highbloods off his back, so he guessed they couldn't be too bad. He sighed, seeming to relax just the tiniest amount as the expression on his face lightened a little, there was still a frown on his face, though that was usual. "I guess that makes some sort of fucking sense... I could have handled those highbloods by my goddamn self. It's not exactly challenging to scare off a bunch of maggot-brained assholes"

The troll girl seemed to cheer up instantly as he soothed his ruffled feathers, in a manner of speaking, the smile crossing her face once more, those green eyes seeming to sparkle with excitement. "Well it would be mean to let you handle them by yourself Karkitty! Oh... you don't mind if I call you that... do you?" She asked, her eyes becoming wide and impossibly large, like a kitten begging for food.

"Well if you're going to be fucking calling me that you can at least tell me your name" Karkat pointed out somewhat grumpily, sitting back down in his chair and shoving a handful of bagle into his mouth and chewing almost angrily. For some reason, even though it was the stupidest nickname he had ever heard, he felt like he should just let her use it. Something also told him she wouldn't stop either even if he told her not to. Now that was an annoying thought.

"Puurrrfect! My name is Nepeta! And this is my bestest mewrail Equius!" The girl, Nepeta, chimed out, her voice gaining a measure of confidence back to it, that unsure wobbling from earlier completely gone now. "Do you wanna eat with us, Karkitty? Being in a group is always a good way to avoid those bullies! They never bother me or Equius!"

Karkat was pretty sure that they never bothered her or Equius because Equius looked... well... weird. The troll was huge, and intimidating looking, even though his somewhat awkward expression kinda ruined the scariness, he still had huge fucking arms for a troll his age. The way the guy was being so careful about everything near him and so obviously making a conscious effort to be careful was another indication that he was probably freakishly strong. He certainly wouldn't go near Nepeta if that guy was around. But then again, he actually had at least half a brain, as opposed to most trolls who were... well...

stupid, to put it kindly.

"I was almost done eating anyway, there wouldn't be any point"

"But we can talk! Purlease Karkitty, just fur a litter bit?"

Oh goddammit, he wasn't sure what it was, but that fucking look on her face made him feel like he'd just be a complete and utter shithole if he declined again. As much as he hated himself, he liked to prove that he could be at least somewhat decent sometimes. The low blood rolled his eyes, and then looked back at Nepeta, determined not to show how her strange power of begging had swayed him. "Fine, if it'll just shut you up" He stated, and took a seat at a booth nearby after grabbing his bagle and cream cheese. Nepeta fist pumped, and then grabbed hold of Equius' wrist and dragged him over, both of them sitting on the opposite side of the booth from Karkat, Nepeta being near the wall and Equius on the outside.

Nepeta had started the conversation off with which classes they were taking, at which point Karkat realized that they both went to Skaia university like he did. And then the conversation got derailed when two humans showed up (apparently, Nepeta had befriended them in one of her art classes and invited them to come along). Both of them had black hair, and dorky buck teeth, the boy, John, had square glasses, and the girl, Jade, had circular ones, apparently they were cousins, or something similar to that effect. There was one last person they were waiting to show up, well, not a person, but a troll to be more specific, who went by the name Tavros. Apparenly he was often late due to being wheelchair bound, he was supossed to have someone who was bringing him, but 'vriskers' as Nepeta called her, had kinda abandoned him in the middle of a street to prove some sort of obscure point. So he was going to be a bit late while he wheeled himself over.

And that was how Karkat got stuck with this odd group of people.

It was only made ten times worse when this 'Tavros' showed up, apologizing feverently for his lateness, everyone said it was fine, but Karkat found his... somewhat weak personality grating on his nerves. He had never been one for patience, or for low self esteem towards others. He wasn't good at communicating with people who were always apologizing for something or stuttering. After a little bit of talking to him and listening to the conversations going on, Karkat found him a little bit more barable to deal with. At least he wasn't a total stuttering coward, and when Karkat had insulted his mental capacity, he had tried to argue back, so he earned some points for that. He had a low self esteem, yes, but he wasn't as much of a pushover as he seemed at first.

And then Karkat got dragged along to a movie.

He wasn't too sure how this happened, he remembered voicing his opinions (In a very direct manner) about going to see a movie that Nepeta had picked out for the group of people he didn't even know besides their names, but for the most part, he had been ignored, and in some cases, literally dragged along. He gave up by the time they were picking up popcorn and getting into their seats, Tavros had needed Equius to help get him out of his wheelchair and up into a sit. And just like Karkat guessed, the blueblood lifted up the brown eyed troll like he weighed nothing more than a feather.

Somehow, Karkat got stuck with a huge bucket of popcorn in his lap, seated between Equius and Tavros. Nepeta sat on the other side of Equius, and next to her was Jade, and on the other side of Tavros was John. They had all chated together for a while, Nepeta had apparenlty picked the movie, since she paid for everyone's tickets. Karkat hadn't really paid much attention to which theater they had walked into, instead, he just let his brain melt by watching the adds and what not that played across the screen, waiting in a somewhat irritated manner for this damn movie to begin. From what he had seen of Nepeta so far, he was expecting some sort of little kiddie show about happiness and rainbows.

What he had not been expecting was a full out slasher film.

Both himself and Tavros immidiately sunk down into their seats, unsure expressions on both of their faces, and Karkat could tell instantly that Tavros had the same issue he did when it came to horror movies, an overactive imagination. But at least he managed not to scream at a particularily disturbing part where a woman had been surprise-gutted on screen. He stopped eating popcorn after the noise of it crushing between his teeth began to remind him of when the cannibal psycho had gone all nom-happy on the aforementioned woman's insides. Even Equius looked uncomfortable. John, Jade, and Nepeta, however, all looked like they were enjoying it. By the time the movie was finally nearing it's climax, Equius, Karkat, and Tavros were all considerably paler than they had been when the movie started. Nepeta and John poked some fun at them for barely being able to stomach it, and then began to talk exstatically about it. Karkat could not understand how they could be so cheerful about the carnage he had just seen on the massive screen. His legs even felt a tad bit wobbly when he finally stood up and moved so that Equius could help Tavros back into his wheel chair.

Thank god that was nearly the end of the festivities, and Karkat was surprised to find it two in the afternoon, around time he usually had lunch, which Nepeta cheerfully suggested next. Honestly he didn't feel like eating after watching that movie, but he decided to just go along with it as well, rather than be forced into it like with the movie. Equius basically told him he had no choice, and since he didn't know the other highblood that well to know if he would be injured into going, he figured fuck it, better safe then sorry.

Though, as they left the movie theater, throwing away their half eaten snacks and empty drinks, Karkat paused, a sudden thought occuring to him. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, not yet getting rid of the almost full bucket of popcorn he had, and checked his messages, Sollux had messaged him that he was busy and not to bother him, but the indigo blooded troll had not yet responded to the missed call Karkat had sent to him at some point during the bakery talk. He frowned, and turned towards the others as they were walking away. "Hey, we're stopping by the dorms" He stated simply, his tone inviting no argument whatsoever as he walked ahead of the group, shoving his phone back into his pocket and getting a cover for the popcorn.

It was only a ten minute walk or so, at which point he explained that he was going to see if one of his friends could join in on the lunch eating since he would probably be all up and excited about the idea. At least the walk went by quickly due to the talking, they all waited outside by the door, while Karkat slipped inside, and turned the corner towards his own room and, next to that, Gamzee's room.

He was surprised, however, when he spotted Jarren standing outside it, eyes narrowing as he came closer towards the door.


	32. Instinct

"Valuuuus, we tried that before remember? It didn't work."  
>"I recall, but perhaps it will be different with... soften your actions Tansis, we do not need both a happy rampage and an angry one."<br>"Awwww, but Vaaaal, you're so cute when you go happy scientist on everyone!"  
>"Nothing have I done, nor will I ever do, can be classified as cute."<br>"I disa-look out!"

Valus and Tansis both jumped to one side, the taller female with still fresh but now wrapped wounds, stumbling over the scattered horns on the floor, while the second, shorter troll, literally danced around them, giving a twirl for good measure with the most pleasant expression on her face. When both were a safe distance away, their eyes returned to the main topic of their discussion.

Gamzee Makara.

A highly unstable, teetering on sober Gamzee Makara.

A highly unstable, teetering on sober Gamzee Makara, who was no longer speaking in words, but honks, as he pulled his spiked club free from the wall, where he had thrown it at two particular females, just moments before. Then he simply froze, staring at the cracks in the walls plaster with fascination. Probably because, in his mind, blood was pouring from the damaged surface.

"... Valus, I do enjoy seeing Gamzee in his adorably destructive roots. But I'm sooo disappointed in his lack of direction, and focus. Why isn't he putting all of his direction into gutting us, or taking our heads for a prize?" the Dancer troll seemed to be pouting, as she eased her way in a broad circle around the Grand Highblood, sighing somewhat depressed, as she came to a stand beside the lean Informer in front of the kitchen's doorway. Valus, had her eyes narrowed observing the incoherent actions of the far to tall male.

"When we returned, the bag I had left for Makara was empty, so I assume he consumed it's contents. However, such small doses of sopor could not douse his rage, only make it... sporadic."

"Soooo, you gave his rage ADD?"

"An odd, but fairly accurate comparison. Though it won't last much longer, whatever has brought him to this state, had to have been psychologically unsettling. I mentioned it's name whenever he was nearly himself. I also nearly discovered what the contents of my abdomen look like."

There was a long pause, before Tansis looked back up at Valus with a imp like smirk, "How loooovely!"

Valus gave a near dream induced sigh, "I know."

Then they both ducked, as a spiked club swung at the air where the two had previously been standing. Tansis rolling out of range, Valus doing this odd sort of side-ways shuffle, as an angry snarl ripped from Gamzee lips, though it was soon replaced by this massive fanged smile, "Why are there so many of you motherfuckers getting wanderings in my hive. SO MANY MOTHERFUCKERS. Ha... haHAhaHAHAhaha," He swung his club again, though this time it was at the specters that only he could see.

In silence the two female's regrouped, both of them quiet for a moment, matching frowns on their gently curved lips. Tansis was the first to speak.

"Valus, he's starting to talk again."  
>"Thank you for that incredibly accurate observation Sevest."<br>"If you're that intent on stopping him, you could always try and drown him in the slime from his cute coon."  
>"And be the cause of the descendant of the blessed Grand Highblood becoming a useless vegetable? I think I shall pass."<p>

Another long pause followed as the two highbloods watched Gamzee, and despite both of their desires to see the indigo blood step into his proper roll laid out for him by the old texts, both began to feel some level of unease. At the moment, they could talk between themselves as they racked their think pans, trying to figure out how to calm the Capricorn down. But if he began to start sobering up again...

If one were to be honest, the only reason they were even trying to return the male to his 'drugged' state, was because he wasn't ready. There was still so much for Gamzee to learn before he could take on the position of the Grand Highblood properly. Valus, Tansis, and even Jarren, were intent on seeing that day happen with the bloody fanfare it deserved.

While the females were lost in their thoughts, Gamzee had turned around and was staring at them. Not moving, not speaking, hardly even breathing. Just watching them, mad smile pulled to the max . Tansis was the first to notice, staring back at the indigo-eyed male with a cheerful smile, before she giggled, causing the rainbow stained Capricorn to slowly tilt his head to the other side. Bust still he did not advance, nor retreat, just stood.

Tansis leaned over and elbowed Valus roughly against her broken arm. The Informer flinched, an unspecified shudder running up her spine, before she turned to Tansis with a small scowl, the beginnings of a lecture forming on her lips, "Really Sevest, now is hardly the ti-" her words cut off, as Tansis performed a giddy little hop, before raising her hand up to tap Valus on the nose, wagging that appendage in Gamzee's direction. The circle horned troll narrowed her eyes in confusion, before looking over at the still frozen Capricorn. Her lighter indigo eyes, meeting the much darker indigo.

"Oh netherbeast..."

* * *

><p>Jarren gave an irritable glance at the door to Gamzee's room listening to the sound of cracking and scuffling, leaning on one foot to keep the weight off of his still healing leg from the little match he had had with a certain down-sized troll... what felt like ages ago. Visibly, the wound was almost completely sealed, but beneath the surface, the nerves were still attempting to connect properly to flesh and muscle. Unless direct pressure was focused on it, it didn't cause him pain. But standing with his full weight on that particular appendage was uncomfortable and just plain felt odd.<p>

There were multiple reasons why the circulatory troll was irritated. The first, being that because of the before-mentioned injury, the girls had decided that he would be useless inside, and had instead volunteered him for guard duty. Just because his leg slowed him down, didn't mean he had to be shoved out of the fun and be a lookout to keep morons from wandering to their death. The second, he had this brutal headache, and there was this strange tingling sensation in his arms that hadn't gone away since Valus had decided to stick him like a damn pin cushion. And the third, he wanted to see Gamzee nearly sober too! That bastard was fucking badass when he was flipping his shit.

Dammit, he was not pouting, he was too cool to do something so... Tansis. Besides, he didn't know what those two thought they were going to achieve. In all the sweeps they had known Gamzee, none of them had ever been able to calm the murderous death clown down.

Jarren tensed, tapping his fingers one by one against his tightly crossed arms, NOT pouting, as a loud thunk was followed by silence and murmured voices, came from the room behind him. Movement caught the corner of his eye, and the dark violet blooded troll glanced over. Who he saw, caused an irritated sneer to smear across his face, returning the glare that Karkat gave him, with equal enthusiasm. He didn't say anything to the shorter male at first, after all, maybe the guy was just going to his room. He and Gamzee were neighbors.

But when the mystery blood didn't even glance at door 7, it didn't take someone like Jarren, to figure out where his intentions lay. A snide remark was on the tip of the circulatory troll's tongue, before a glance at what Karkat was holding, caused him to pause. He kind of just stared at the item for a long moment, before curiosity won, "Why... do ya 'ave a large bucket o' popped corn?"

"Because it got forced into my possession by a bunch of idiots I barely know, I can't eat it because now it just reminds me too much of something disgusting I saw during the movie it was meant to be consumed watching, and since I don't like wasting food, I assumed that Gamzee would eat this shit since he eats just about fucking anything" Karkat answered in a very bland, direct manner, wrinkling up his nose, glancing between Jarren and the door. "What's going on?" He demanded, a scowl starting to work it's way across his face as he heard... noises, coming from the other room.

Jarren responded at first with this odd sort of blink. Yeah, okay, that barely made any sense what-so-ever. So he simply just brushed it off as him being weird, just like the rest of the unfamiliar trolls Gamzee seemed associated with. Instead, he skipped to the male's inquiry, forming a scowl of his own as he tensed, back straightening, "It's uh big bucket o' none of yer damn business. Tis shit doesn't concern wriggluh-eyed midgets."

Karkat sighed in an irritated way, and set the bucket of popcorn on the floor in front of his own door, before turning back to Jarren. "How about this then?" He asked, and then an expression of rage crossed his face. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY" at this point, he lurched forward, lifting up one foot and aiming to plant it into the other male's stomach. He didn't like what he was hearing from that room, and gog be damned if he was just going to sit here and wait.

The circulatory troll glared when Karkat made that demand and then moved. _He wouldn't fucking da_- Next thing Jarren knew, he was doubled over, numb arms clutching at his stomach. Holy mothergrub of gog that fucking hurt! How'd a little troll like that pack such a kick! Jarren stumbled a bit, blinking back stars as with a growl he whirled around to retaliate, still trying to regain his breath and the sting in his stomach, as he aimed a punch at the Cancer's back.

Meanwhile, the noise in the room had gone silent.

Karkat easily stepped forward, avoiding the punch, and then stepped back again, ending up on Jarren's side, where he twisted, and kneed the male in the gut again, hoping to take him down for a few seconds for him to get to the door. It worked. Karkat moved around the cursing troll and towards the door, and thankfully, it was unlocked, because had it been locked, he would have felt nothing except a momentary guilt over breaking it when he kicked the goddamn thing down.

He twisted the handle and let it swing open, stepping inside to blink in confusion at the swirl of colors that marred the walls, and for a second, he was numb, ready to flip the fuck out before he noticed that it all had a faint, chemical odor. It didn't smell like blood. Oh how he didn't like how he knew what blood smelled like.

"Gamzee?"

Silence followed after Karkat spoke the Capricorn's name, temporary, but choking none-the-less. Until it became echoed by that of a snarl, and the body of a troll flew in front of the short walkway that led to Gamzee's main room, and slammed into the wall in front of the door. Tansis twisted, getting her feet towards the floor as she fell, just catching herself but slouching slightly, her light violet blood dripping from the long cuts across her shoulder and chest, those loose clothes clinging to her from the warm liquid that ran. Her breath came in short pants, as she giggled, smiling towards the one who had thrown her happily.

Valus soon appeared by Tansis side, her gaze not on the female, but on the one who had entered. She blinked, it was him... and annoyed frown brushed across her lips, "Vantas, what are you doing in here?"

"Awwww, what's wrong Grand Highblood?"

"Silence Tansis," Valus hissed, standing as straight as she could, with her own injuries, still managing a glare of defiance in Karkat's direction. Though Tansis' gaze was frozen on Gamzee, whom was backed into a corner, dilated eyes blown wide open, and staring blank towards the hall. He didn't seem panicked, but hell, he didn't seem calm.

Karkat didn't even jump when Tansis landed in front of him, bleeding and smiling like a psychopath. He just stared, like his brain was trying to make sense of all the colors and the situation, he didn't understand it, until something came to mind.

_"I'm not like those motherfuckers Karkat. When I kill, it's because I can't fuckin' control it. I can't all up and prove it, because you don't know me, and I'm not visiting that carousel again."_

Okay, he was kinda starting to understand what that meant now. He tried to stop thinking of the paint splatters and their eerie similarity to blood, and shook his head, swallowing down the fear that threatened to keep him rooted to the spot as he looked at Valus, her words not quite registering at first. As soon as he got the meaning, he simply shook his head, knowing that it was no suitable answer, but he didn't exactly have one that didn't sound retarded, or cliche. He swallowed, and took another step forward, hands up and palms open, to display that he wasn't armed, though that was stupid because he was sure, to someone who was having some sort of breakdown, that didn't matter.

"Gamzee" He stated again, a little bit stronger this time; the name no longer a question, but more like a grab at the highblood's attention.

And it did grab his attention. Bright indigo eyes contracted, flickering from focusing on nothing, to staring at one, charcoal-eyed familiarity. Upturned palms facing him, taking a step forward... and he began to giggle, that action shaking his chest, lips pulling to reveal too many fangs, pulling too wide. Because Karkat was there. With his secret beautiful blood that was beginning to drip from his lips, his eyes. His art wasn't complete, it needed red. Red... red... beautiful red. Gamzee was still giggling, as a hand rose to cover half his face, one eye peering out and a flinch coming from his entire body. No-no Karkat wasn't bleeding, he was standing there no wound on his body. Why? Why was he here? He didn't remember, didn't need him. Who didn't need who?

That haze was nearly cleared, thoughts were starting to come through. There were two highbloods... Valus, Tansis. Foolish little toys, easy to control. So motherfucking easy to control. Valus was watching Karkat, so was Tansis. Watching, watching. Don't say his name, don't fucking say it! He could know, he could find out. Blessed thoughts of mirthful hell were beginning to sink in, things were starting to clear up.

Then Gamzee finally saw Karkat both physically and mentally. Immediately he tensed. Every muscle beneath paint covered flesh tightened, every sinew became highlighted, and he jerked backwards so violently, that the resounding thud would make one wonder if he had cracked the wall... again. Both hands struck away from Gamzee's body, slamming against the wall and staying there. As if the substitute blood had become adhesive, keeping them in place.

"Hello brother, HELLO BEST MOTHER HONKING FUCKER!" he cackled, the sound fluctuating erratically from high to low pitch, as he slid a few feet away from the corner, sticking so close to the wall and smearing the paint, that one could imagine it could consume him at any moment.

Valus' brows wrinkled as she watched the display, as Gamzee began to return to his state of clarified sober rage.

Tansis appeared... hopeful as she watched the Cancer with excited eyes.

Jarren, who was poking his head in after managing to pick himself off the ground, seemed to be the only one who was showing even a hint of concern. "Kar-"

"SILENCE!"

Jarren flinched, as he saw sharp indigo eyes looking at him, that demented smile more threatening than any frown he had ever seen, before Gamzee continued to speak, "Hush and shush, know your FUCKING PLACE INVENTOR. ShHhHhHh." For once, Jarren went quiet.

Karkat tried not to flinch when Gamzee jerked backwards and began cackling like a hyena choked up on crack, but dammit, he did. He swallowed down his fear, forced it to simmer in his stomach, lock up his insides and twist them around painfully. He didn't know what to do, he really didn't. But he wasn't going to just leave, as much as he platonically hated Tansis and Valus, he wasn't going to just let them die, largely because once Gamzee was back in the right state of mind, he'd probably not be happy with himself.

He watched as Gamzee moved, smearing the paint, telling Karkat that it must be somewhat fresh, which meant this wasn't going on for very long, or at least not all damn day. Hopefully. He swallowed again, and then moved.

He didn't go forward, or backwards, no, instead, he merely dropped to the ground, seeming to get himself comfortable on the highblood's floor, with his feet in front of him, the muscles beneath the skin all tightened and tense, ready to move him in case any of the high bloods in the room came at him. He sat, there, staring very intently at Gamzee, not saying a word yet.

Jarren, Tansis, and Valus, though they clearly couldn't read minds, all thought the precise same thing in unison, as they watched Karkat sit on the ground before the Grand Highblood.

He's going to die.

Curiosity flitted across the Capricorns face, quiet, as he watched Karkat in his new lowered position. His head, slowly turned, until it was almost perfectly side-ways, eyes unblinking. Then, for the longest time, he simply stared back, and one would have had to look close to even see him breathing. Until in a lightning fast movement, paint stained lips slipped over Gamzee's fangs, and that mad fascination in his eyes, turned to one of genuine confusion. What was his moirail doing on the ground? Perfect head slicing position. _NO MOTHERFUCKER NO_. He growled, a rumbling snarl coming from his lips as he tilted his head back so that he was facing the ceiling not looking into Karkat's eyes, not looking at the images of strawberry blood popping from too tightly squeezed flesh. Tips of those tall horns dug into the wall behind him, a violent shudder over the highblood's body.

Then, a particular thing happened. Though Gamzee did not look down at Karkat, his legs slowly folded, crossing each other, as he took a seat mimicking the Cancer, keeping as much contact with the wall as possible, while still avoiding his diamond brother's gaze. Tansis smile faded, her eyes narrowing in suspicion, while Valus' brows drew up in shock, and Jarren just watched with silent focus.

Suddenly, the confusion that had been on Gamzee's face vanished, this time replaced by a particular expression. Eyes narrowed, brows lowering in irritation, lips tight and flat, before his head tilted downward to reveal a single indigo eye, locked unblinking onto Karkat. Before he spoke, the words flat and perfectly even, "It's supposed to be mirthful."

He really had not expected Gamzee to sit down, he had moreso been expecting to be attacked. Not that Gamzee sitting down was totally unwanted, in fact this was probably the best possible outcome. Karkat still wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, but he kept focused on the highblood's every movement, down to the tiniest detail, those colorless eyes perfectly clear and focused.

And then the confused expression on Gamzee's face was gone, resembling one that almost looked like annoyance, but he couldn't be too sure. He focused on Karkat, talking, but Karkat merely kept up his current habit of doing whatever felt natural to do since it seemed to be working so far, even if he had no idea if any of this was even really working or just delaying the inevitable.

He raised one hand up to his mouth, folding his fingers in until one sat out in front of his lips, as if he were shushing a small child. "Gamzee, just... shhh" He stated simply, his voice far calmer and more stable than he felt on the inside.

As soon as the whispering sound left Karkat's lips, Gamzee's head snapped down, staring with an unreadable emotion. There was something feral about the way he was watching the Cancer now as his thoughts slipped temporarily blank. Before that mind which produced a carnival of horrors, was brushing memories across his think pan. Old, dust covered mirrors of past events, where he had heard that sound, from that source once upon a time. A sound he had not heard in sweeps.

No legible words left his lips this time, just a single sound, repeated twice in a row. Uncertainty teetering over his voice fluctuation of the familiar noise that was literally written across his walls, "Honk honk."

Holy mothergrub of merciful gog this seemed to be working. Wait, this was so dumb, in a way, but that didn't mean Karkat was going to stop. He stopped, taking in a breath and swallowing quick, scooting a bit closer as the other troll honked somewhat uncertainly.

Again, he held a single finger in front of his lips. "Shhhhhhhhhhhhh"

The Capricorn's broad shoulders, sunk downwards ever so slightly, eyes lowering to a half-lidded state, as his whole body leaned somewhat to one side. Almost as if he were attempting to lean into the sound. The previous tensity that had made the air in the room near choking, had dimmed considerably. In it's wake an odd sort of peace was beginning to settle in.

Before it was ripped apart by a soft giggle, and a too-innocent sounding voice, "Ooooh my Karkat," Gamzee froze, lids flying open and pupils dilating to dots, "I never knew you'd take such risk to end the Grand Highblood." Tansis smile at those words, please as she watched every muscle beneath the Capricorn's flesh tighten, before Valus whirled on her with a glare, hissing her name, "Tansis!"

Tansis simply smiled, as she the whispered in a voice only the two highblood's could hear, "Oooops, did I forget to add 'rage' onto the end of that sentence."

A snarl appeared over Jarren's lips as he grabbed the shorter female by the arm, "Among other tings."

"You will leave Tansis," Valus frowned, turning to very well force the female from the room, until a low growl halted her, and she whirled back around, just in time to see Gamzee lunging at Karkat, claws aimed to twist into the male's clothes and shove him down. Tansis was giggling, even as Jarren forcefully removed her from the room, though Valus wasn't paying any mind, because something about the look the Capricorn had, caused her to stop. There was the rage there certainly, but another emotion she had not seen on Gamzee before, at least not in a long time. Hurt.

Because in Gamzee's mind it was possible, because in that confusing madness where his focus and emotions were changing like a gobstopper candy treat, he could recall, that Karkat did not remember him. His legs twisted to match the Cancer's, claws tearing into the fabric as he moved to put all his weight on him, to try and pin the male and keep him from moving. Before a singular audible phrase tore from his lips, "DON'T MOTHERFUCKING NEED HELP WITH THAT, can do death my fucking self. All by my motherfucking self brother."


	33. Shoosh Pap

If Karkat hadn't turned around to snarl at Tansis, he might have been able to react fast enough to lurch himself out of the way. But he did turn, throwing the female a vicious glare, he may be mean to his friends, shout at them and call them stupid, but he'd never hurt them if he could avoid it. Much less kill. He turned back towards Gamzee, only having enough time to let his eyes widen, as the indigo blooded male lurched at him, and managed to pin him down against the ground.

For a second, the impact of his head slapping against the floor made all his senses leave him and the world just spun for a mere second before it snapped into focus. His legs were pinned, and his shoulders, but his arms were still free. He could grab his sickles from his belt where they were always hidden, always. He could end it right now if he really wanted to.

But he wouldn't, he didn't even think of it. Friends don't kill friends.

Instead, he lifted both hands, and for some reason beyond him (again), began to pap them gently yet fiercely against the other male's chest.

Valus blinked in shock, not quite believing what she was seeing. Was Vantas... patting Gamzee's chest? Jarren returned, no Tansis in sight, lips parted to say something, before he followed the female's gaze, and those words shriveled up and died on his tongue. They were both thinking the same thing.

_What the fuck is he doing?_

Gamzee's lips had parted, the anger there turning the yellow around his iris a near beating red, until he felt a rapid repetitive pressure on his chest, and he blinked in surprise. Those eyebrows lowered again, staring directly into Karkat's eyes, the gears in his mind slowing, clunking and sharp against his mind. "HoOoOoOoOonk?" If not for the situation, the sound would have been rather amusing, as it fluctuated with each fierce pap.

Okay this was for some reason working. It was a miracle and Karkat was totally willing to let Normal-Gamzee chalk it up as one. No wait he would never hear the end of it, providing he live anyway. It was so hard keeping the fear down now, he could feel it figuratively ripping up his insides, trying to get out, he opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out except a very quiet noise that was almost inaudible. "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." And he kept up the patting, since that was working as well, whatever, as long as no one got seriously hurt... er... any more hurt than they already were, he was willing to try just about anything.

Gamzee blinked, pupils retracting from their dilated state, slightly shaded as lids sunk down a small fraction over this eyes. There was this sound, like a hush, like the waves of the ocean. A too distant memory. Those waves rose up, and each pat was as if they were coming down again, rinsing away the blood that stained his mind, soaking it to the very core. It's salty sting silenced the screams of tormented victims, scrubbing their existance into nothing but sand in his think pan. The hell mirth lulled itself into a comfortable nap, getting snug and silent in that wicked mist that blocked out such dangerous whimzy from the waking world. Then, indigo eyes froze, a sharpness in them fading to a dull haze, head tilting somewhat to the side.

"...Karkat?"

Karkat could almost see it when it happened, the strange, foreign person in those eyes fading away and being replaced by that usual haze, and he sighed, his hands stopping and dropping to the ground in relief. He had been so tense that his muscles were sore now. A faint 'thank gog' echoed itself through his mind.

"Can you get off me?"

Gamzee blinked at the male below him, as if what he had just said wasn't processing. Actually, to be perfectly honest, he hadn't heard a single word. Because at that particular time, a flood of memories from the morning was slamming him left and right. From the back and forth with Tenacious Obsession, to anger that tore like barbed wire under his skin, to when Valus entered and he broke her arm and scrathced her throat, to her return a half hour later with Tansis, and finally when Karkat entered.

All at once the Capricorn was tense, his eyes had not looked away from Karkat's the entire time his thoughts were rotating, playing back to him every little thing he had done, before suddenly they flicked up towards the word 'honk' written repetitive over the entirety of his walls. Then slowly, his gaze circulated around, taking in where he was what happened, and instead of the grip on Karkat's shirt loosening, it tightened for a moment, Gamzee going rigid.

Before a tentative cough, caused the male to whip his head back around and blink at the owner of the voice, Valus. When he saw her bandaged wounds he flinched but did not look away. "Makara, for precisely how much longer do you intend to stay mounted above Vantas?"

Gamzee stared for a long moment at Valus, before glancing over to Jarren who... well, had a look on his face that one would have thought he had just witnessed a hoofbeast sprout a second bulge. Finally, Gamzee was looking back down at the Cancer, and realization seemed to spread across his face. As one of the many violent memories slipped to the front of his mind. He had lunged at Karkat... for a moment, no matter brief, he had been tempted to maul the cancer with his bare hands.

Gamzee felt sick.

"Sorry Karkat," his voice came out barely a whisper, as he released his hold on the Cancer's shirt with such speed, that one might have thought he had been burned, leaning back until he was perched on his toes, knees to his chest, chin on his kness, and arms limp on the ground. Staring silent.

Karkat was a little worried for a second there that Gamzee might slip back into rage, or whatever the hell that had been just now, and his stomach twisted painfully again, he wanted to throw up. But then Valus spoke, and a few moments later Gamzee finally moved off him. He pushed himself up off the floor into a sitting position, swallowing before he could speak.

"It's fine, you said you couldn't help it" He stated simply, and then stood up, and moved to leave the room.

And Gamzee almost followed. But as he braced his hands against the ground to stand, another of the many memories that was flickering through his mind like some kind of crappy drama flick, came to him. His eyes became distant, lips tightening, and he leaned back onto the balls of his feet, crossing his arms on top of his knees now, before silently perching his head there. Saying nothing.

Valus didn't know which was creepier or more irritating. The fact that Karkat had managed to turn a raging highblood with every intent to kill them all, once his mind fully cleared into... well, a silent compliant thing. Or, the mere manner in which he had calmed the male. How had that even worked! Honestly, it was so simplistic it was almost moronic! And how had patting Gamzee aided in calming him down? It all seemed so ridiculous, and Valus was left speechless, her eyes, as well as Jarren's following the Cancer as he left the room.

The female troll gave an outwards groan, rising the fingers on her uninjured arm to her forehead, weaving them beneath beneath her bangs. Jarren finally spoke, "Ahm not... entirely sure wha just 'appened."

"At this point, I've given up on making sense out of anything that involves Makara and Vantas." Valus replied with an uncharacteristic grunt, slipping her eyes closed with a sigh.

"Is he gone?"

Jarren and Valus jumped, glancing back over to Gamzee who until that moment, had been deathly silent. The Capricorn was not moving, he nearly looked like a statue, his indigo eyes staring unblinking against the ground. It was odd to look at him now, compared to what he had been just minutes before. Jarren was the one to answer his question.

"Yeah G-Zee, he's uhbsconded," and then the circulatory troll blinked in surprise, because then Gamzee did something he had never seen before. That action was small, but when it came to the Capricorn, his small actions told you a whole plethora more than the large. His shoulders sagged, and his half lowered eyes lowered a fraction more. "Hey man, t'ere ain't no one sayin' t'at he won't be back."

"You don't got your know around that. All you can do is motherfucking hope, but sometimes that shit won't get it's mirth in your life. Besides, he's not..." but whatever Gamzee had been about to say, he suddenly stopped, words falling silent on his lips, as Valus shifted uncomfortably given the sudden change of atmosphere, and Jarren sighed, rising a hand up to rub the back of his head. Well shit, this wasn't awkward at all.


	34. Beep Beep Meow

**AN  
><strong>See, we haven't forgotten you guys! We both have been working very hard these past few days.  
>The curse of obliqueMinistrator has infected us both. D8<br>... -Cough- Anyway! Thank you all so much for your support of Eren. He hasn't thanked you yet, but he's quite the easily distracted boy, so don't pay him no mind. -Is one to talk-

A BIG thanks to all of our readers, watchers, and commenters! You guys are awesome!

You have all of my love.  
>ALL OF IT! 3333 ~<em>Aussie B. Lemming<em>

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><p>Karkat walked back to his room, and gently shut the door behind him, resting his head against it and squeezing his eyes shut as he shook a little. Utterly fucking terrifying, that's what that had been. He may have seemed calm, but he sure as hell wasn't on the inside. His body tended to just kinda shut down fear, keep it in, sometimes he had to force it, sometimes it just came naturally, when he was in danger, leaving him to freak out later or simply dissolving. He stood there for just a few seconds, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, and then reached down and picked up the bucket of popcorn he had placed there, and headed back out.<p>

As he walked back into Gamzee's room, he heard them talking, most likely about him, awesome.

"I'm not what?" He asked in a somewhat irritated manner, stepping into view as he simply wandered over towards Gamzee, holding the bucket of popcorn out. "This is one of the two reasons I came to this fucking room in the first-" And then he was interrupted.

"Karkitty? You're taking so long that we're all getting impatient!" A voice called out from the hallway, Nepeta standing just before room five as she called out, not too sure which room the male troll had gone into.

"Why do you have... who is... Karkitty?" Valus blinked silently, looking between the three male's in the room in turn before her good arm did this odd sort of fling through the air, the trolless turning on her heels with a dignified huff, "No. Actually, no. I give up, for today I give up. I can only take so much of this nonsensical idiocy. Of course, Makara entering a mode of rage means that he needs to be hushed and patted. Then of course there must be popcorn! This whole fucking madness would not be complete without popped butter corn! Ha-Ha-Ha, fuck you and good night." And with that, she left, fuming as she passed an odd troll with a blue helmet on, not even giving a second glance. Because honestly, that was probably the closest thing she had seen to something that made sense all day.

Gamzee blinked after Valus, head tilting to one side as she left, before looking back up at Karkat. He didn't say anything for a moment, just watched him, before a relaxed smile slid across his lips, and paint dried hands reached up and accepted the popcorn "Thanks motherfucker, that's pretty wicked of you, keeping me in mind for salt popped treats." And with little less fanfare than that, he popped open the lid, and stuck his head into the bin. Lips parted trapping some unsuspecting popcorn in his mouth, before resurfacing, chewing happily on the little crunchy miracles as they tickled his tongue with salt, before soothing it with miracle butter.

Throughout all of this, Jarren just sort of stood against the wall, staring at the remaining trolls, and trying to figure out what exactly was happening, and then there was the whole... stranger calling out for someone named Karkitty? Wait, was she calling for Karkat... At that, a small smirk spread across Jarren's lips. Well now, that was a cute little nickname.

It took a lot of self control to not smirk at Valus as she freaked out a little and left, and it made Karkat feel a bit better that he was more used to... well... random bullshit than she was. Then again, that was also coming from a person who, not that many sweeps ago, had decided to go visit his matesprit-then-ex-now and ended the day with getting lost in a massive forest, and between those events had been included a color tasting contest, arm wrestling, hoofbeast chasing, and a rampaging lusus.

Oh gog that had been one weird, stressful, and irritating day, but now he was kinda getting off track in the thoughts. Still though, it couldn't compare to going to eat some breakfast to meeting some random trolls to being dragged to a movie and ending up here, in a room covered in paint, with a troll also covered in paint.

At the sound of Nepeta's voice, however, a somewhat irritated expression did cross his face, mainly because of the name, it was just so... ugh... cute. He hated his name being turned into something cute. He decided to ignore it for now, they could damn well wait out there on their fucking asses for him. He instead just turned back to Gamzee. "Also, get up you're coming with me to go out and eat with a bunch of strangers"

Gamzee had been half-way through taking another bite of popcorn, when Karkat informed him that they had plans. "Alright bro, just give me all of a minute to wash off some of this happy paint," and he stood, popping the lid back onto the popcorn bin, his smile broadening. Before tossing the bucket over to Jarren. The circulatory troll jumped, flinching forward to catch the sealed treats, managing to snatch it before it hit the floor. "Do a fucker a favor and put that in my nutrition block." Jarren sort of stared at him, as Gamzee turned to head to his abulation trap, "Now motherfucker, chop chop." And then there was a sound of running water.

Jarren continued to stare at the open door, blinking as Gamzee stepped into the basin, clothes and all, to rinse off the paint. Then, that dark violet gaze switched over to Karkat, before a scowl formed on his face, and he trudged towards the kitchen. "All o yuh fuckuhs are bipolauh as hell."

"If you want bipolar talk to Sollux" Karkat stated simply as he stepped towards the door, and motioned towards Nepeta to come inside. "Issues arose, it'll take a few minutes so you might as well tell everyone to sit the fuck down and wait"

"They can wait I want to see who you invited!" She stated, bouncing up and down just outside the door and trying to get a glance inside, an absolutely pitiful expression on her face. Finally, she dropped down, and ran past Karkat, bouncing into the colorful living room, her little nose twitching as she wrinkled it.

The thought that it was supposed to resemble blood did not even cross her mind, she had smelled the paint outside the room, and all she thought was that someone had simply gotten creative with colors. This room didn't smell like Karkat, well it did a little since he was in here, but there was another, more powerful smell, probably the person who lived in this dorm, his friend most likely. And they smelled familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

Jarren sighed in irritation. How did he keep getting roped into this crap. He had his own things he wanted to do today, primarily rest so his freaking leg could heal and he could start training again. His little tussle with Karkat had made the injury throb uncomfortably, and dammit now he was getting a headache. Setting the popcorn tub on the counter, upside down in a small show of how much he did not appreciate being Gamzee's little maid, he turned to head back into the living room. He came to a stop however, when he saw a little troll with a blue helmet, bouncing around like a squeakbeast on coffee and... sniffing the air? "Who teh fuck are yuh?"

Then the water in the abulation trap hissed to a stop, and there was the sound of movement, of water droplets spraying everywhere as the Capricorn shook the water off, then of drawers opening with a hum as Gamzee, unaware of the new intruder in his room, went through the motions of putting on his face.

"I'm Nepeta! Are you Karkitty's Furriend?" She asked, green eyes wide as she smiled, the two of them sure shared the same foul language.

At this point, Karkat came back in from the doorway just in time to hear the question, and made a weird face as if disturbed by the idea. "Hell no I'm not friends with him"

Jarren shared Karkat's dismay, a scowl forming on his lips, though he hesitated briefly before responding, "... ahm Jarren, an no as Krabbeh said, we ain't friends."

Then there was a brief sound of a clatter, a shuffling in the porcelain room, and a still dripping wet Gamzee popped his head from the bathroom, indigo eyes wide. Because he had heard an all too familiar voice, and his vascular pump was thumping in excitement. Most of the paint had been washed off, his face now occupied with his usual clown get up, and the largest smile on his lips he had displayed all day, "Motherfucking miracles! Little sis, that you!"

Nepeta's smile faded a little as she was buffeted by scowls on both sides of her, but she brushed it off, looking a bit nervous as she giggled a little, shrugging her shoulders. She was about to continue, when the source of this room's smell finally appeared, and her eyes widened at Gamzee, before she let out an excited squeal, and then promptly leaped forward, tackling the much, much larger male in a flying hug.

"OH GAMZEE! This is Purfect! I bet Tavros will be so happy to see you!"

Gamzee's eyes grew wider as he caught Nepeta, one foot stepping back to keep them from toppling to the ground. He was laughing, as all that mirth bubbled up. Man! He never thought he'd see his little cat sister again, this was all sorts of crazy! He gave her a tight hug, admittedly getting her a bit wet. Then his vascular pump gave an uneven thump, and excitement filtered all through his veins, "I think I can get my guess going that your strong diamond moiboy is here to? Man this is way wicked! Woah, hold on sis!" And Gamzee pulled her way to hold her at arms length so that he could get his see on her better, "Did your words mention that my Tavbro is here too!"

Karkat quickly decided that, from now on, he was simply going to assume that everyone knew him and everyone else, even if he had no idea who they were.

"Yup! Me and Equius were having breakfast when we pounced into Karkitty! Him and Tavros are waiting outside because Karkitty wanted you to come with us to lunch!" Nepeta explained quickly, not seeming to mind at all that she was wet as she smiled, barely able to contain her own excitement, when an idea seemed to pop into her head.

"Oh! Mister Jarren, do you want to come and eat with us too? Purretty Please?" She asked, after all, if he wasn't furiends with Karkitty then he must be friends with Gamzee, otherwise he wouldn't be in here! . . . Right?

"Ah...ah kinduh have other tings tuh do," at that point, Jarren seemed to be attempting to avoid eye contact with the little cat troll. Because dammit he was not going to be suckered in to another damn thing today. He was going to go back to his room, sink into his coon until he was at the risk of drowning and sleep.

"Come on motherfucker, it'll be fuckin' wicked! You can meet and greet with some of my old brothers I told you about. Happy time reunion!" and he released Nepeta, jogging over to his room, excitement practically floating off of him like a hoofbeast stench. It was hard to believe that this Gamzee, and the other with the intent to rip off everyone's head and juggle them, were the same troll. The Capricorn pulled his shirt off, having to bend over to get them over his horns, before tossing it into one corner of the room. Place was a mess anyway. Then he pulled open a drawer and pulled out a zip up black and white horizontal striped coat. He didn't know where his mirthful bangle bracelets were, so he'd just forget them for now.

Jarren in the meantime, from watching all this casual madness had a frown back on his face. "Oh yeah, tat's gonna convince me G-Zee. If tey are anyting like Crabbeh ah'll pass."

"Not everyone is crabby like Karkitty! The rest of them are puretty nice!" Nepeta claimed, bouncing up and down again as she was released, now in front of Jarren and apparently trying to claim his attention. "Purleassseeeeeeee~?" She begged, "It's not fun if one of Gamzee's furiends are left out!" True, she didn't know this troll, but he didn't seem all that bad!

Was she actually bouncing around? Oh gog those fucking green eyes couldn't get any bigger. _Fuck me_. "Alrigh' alrigh N-eta ah'll go!" he hissed out, lips pressed tight in a thin line, and hands shoving their way into his coat pockets. His plan to avoid eye contact had failed. It was hard to not look at Nepeta when she was having a hyper seizure in front of you.

Around that point in time, Gamzee had sort of stumble hopped to a stand beside Karkat, watching his little Sis and Bro exchanging words and compliance as he zipped up his coat. Then for a brief moment, that excitement dimmed down and a thought crossed his mind. So while Nepeta and Jarren were distracted, he lowered his voice to just above a whisper, leaning over slightly so that only the Cancer could hear, "Thanks for coming back Karkat, not many motherfuckers have done that for me," his aura was odd now, as he wasn't under the effect of sopor, but clearly wasn't sober either. Gamzee was still smiling sure, but he also seemed to be more coherent than usual.

Karkat's colorless eyes flickered over towards Gamzee, giving a simple shrug. "I don't like leaving my friends hanging, so to speak" He answered simply, biting down on his tongue to keep himself from saying anymore.

"yyyyaaaaayy~!" Nepeta called out, and ran around the room one last time, motioning rapidly for everyone to follow her. "Come on slow pokes! Everyone else is waiting outside!" She called out, her tone excited and joyful as she then proceeded to jump out of the room, and race down the hallway, laughing the whole way.


	35. Oops

I am like ninty-nine percent sure that I thanked our reviewers at some point, Aussie XD

unless I didn't.

in which case, thank you guys for your wonderful words of encouragement and small advice here and there ^~^

- _Eren S. _

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><p>It was nice really. A perfect Fall day for friends to get together, for reunions to be had, and for the happy madness when those two things are put together to ensue. Despite the happenings of that morning... and noon time, there was a comfortable familiarity in the air, and excitement that was building, as the group of four made their way out of the dorms. A very happy Nepeta gladly taking the lead. So it was in this manner of fanfare that they entered the crisp air, with a brief warning of coming winter on it's breath to find John and Jade, then Equius and Tavros engaged in a conversation. The two troll's conversation in particular, seemed to be about something of a robotic nature. The larger, obscenely muscular troll, was rubbing his towel casually at the base of his neck.<p>

"Very well lowblood, but my offer will not lay upon the table for long."

"I uh, appreciate it Equius. Tha-" and then the Taurus was cut off by a blur of black, white, and gray. The sheer force of the impact, caused the Summoner's four wheel device to go careening backwards, before the wheels hit the grass and the mobile chair tipped over, depositing it's inhabitants rolling onto the ground. When the figurative dust settled, one could find Tavros, clung tightly to the chest of a rather tall, lean troll.

"TAVBRO! HEY MY BEST MOTHERFUCKING BRO!" and Gamzee was laughing, unable to contain his excitement as he rubbed the side of his cheek into that fluffy awesome Mohawk, for a moment, completely unaware of the audience present.

Equius was blinking behind his cracked shades in shock, staring at the two sprawled out on the ground. "Oh... oh my goodness. Nepeta, what precisely is occurring here?"

In the meantime, Jarren was standing at the top of the stairs, eyes like saucers, fingers twitching ever so slightly. Oh hell, look at these freaks, and there was even humans present. Why couldn't Gamzee have old friends that at least looked somewhat normal?

Nepeta skipped out soon after Gamzee had emerged and knocked Tavros right out of his chair, laughing a little. "Karkitty went to go get Gamzee and we haven't seen him in furever either!" She purred, a smile wide on her face. She realized her mistake, however, in her wording and looked over at Karkat, and relaxed a little upon seeing that he didn't hear what she said. Oh it was so unfair, to pretend that they didn't know that much about him, and it broke her heart a little to know that he couldn't remember any of them. Sollux had been so commanding about not going near him when it was found out they were all in the same college, but... if it ended up like this, he wouldn't mind, right?

"I see... it has been some time since we have conversed with Makara."

Karkat emerged from the building shortly after Gamzee and Jarren, and it took a small amount of self control to not start smirking at the highblood's expression, instead, he left that flat look on his face. "This random shit has pretty much been my entire fucking day so far" he stated as he passed the other troll, heading down to the group.

Jarren didn't respond verbally, though he did glance over as Karkat descended the stairs. If he didn't irritate the circulatory troll in a purely platonic manner, he may have felt a small bit of understanding. Oh well. Instead, of joining in on this happy tom-fuckery, Jarren opted for imitating a pole. A silently fuming pole, but a pole none-the-less. Trying desperately to ignore the fact that his friend, Gamzee, was practically smothering the wheelchair bound troll with horns that looked like they could knock you out with one accidental swing. Never mind the dripping tower of muscle that seemed rather chummy with Nepeta, or the two humans with dorky glasses who were smiling and seemed amused by the whole situation.

"G-Gamzee?" Tavros gasped, pushing his hands against the trolls chest, both so that he could breath and so he could look at the male that had tackle-hugged him. Peanut-butter swirled irises peered upward at the smiling indigo. Before a long pause fell between them.

Then Tavros punched Gamzee in the face.

The Capricorn fell back because damn, all those sweeps of having to use his upper body strength to wheel around, had really paid off for the Taurus. Gamzee blinked at the little stars dancing around in his vision, as he was attempting to process what had just happened. The first thing he became aware of, was a pressure on his chest, as Tavros braced his hands there so he could prop himself up and look at the Capricorn properly.

When Gamzee was able to focus again, he was facing the glare of an irritated Summoner. "You disappeared for-for three sweeps! Three fucking sweeps! Seriously Gamzee, that's, uh, pretty messed up!"

"Tav-"

"You couldn't send us a chat, or an-an email! No one knew what happened to you!"

"Tavbro-"

"D-don't Tavbro me! You don't know how fucking worried I was! I didn't know if you died, or if-if you had gone and snapped, or uh, anything like that!"

"Damn G-Zee, is this fuckuh like, an old matesprit er somethin?"

Tavros paused in his angry rant, the irritation sweeping off of his expression to be replaced by a blank sort of stare as the gears started to turn. Then full realization slammed into him and a dark brown blush filtered over his cheeks as he turned to look at a strange troll he had never seen before. " Uh... wh-what?" Oh yeah, there were other people present.

"That is... a highly inappropriate assumption, unknown inquisitor." Equius, who had been silent throughout the whole exchange, now looked to the stranger, brows furrowed together behind his cracked sunglasses. Not that one could see that because of the dark ting of said shades but still. Jarren in the meantime, had moved down the steps after the initial punch in case Gamzee needed some back-up. But after finding that it was just some quarrel about when he, Tansis, and Valus had convinced him to break contact with his old friends, he hung back... until he made the comment that the large horned troll was scolding Gamzee like an old matesprit. Now, he shifted uncomfortably as he felt the massive blueblood's gaze on him.

Jarren stared up at Equius for a long moment, before very slowly, he took a single side-step away. Yeah, okay, that guy was kind of creepy. How could Nepeta stand so casually beside him?

Well this was interesting.

No, it really wasn't. Karkat just stayed at the bottom of the steps, raising one hand to pinch the skin on the bridge of his nose as his eyes squeezed shut in irritation. He could feel his head pounding, a rhythm that matched up with his heartbeat, thump-pain, thump-pain, thump-pain. Honestly he just kinda wanted to yell at everyone to shut the fuck up and go eat and be fucking happy for one gogdamn day.

But it wasn't only that, it was another thing that left him with his head aching. It was like a sense of painful D j vu. Not the situation, exactly, but the people, some of them anyway. It was like there had been something there, waking up for just a brief moment, before being forced down to sleep, but it was struggling, and the result was his pounding head, and a strange, rushing noise in his ears, like the sound of violent wind, but there was none, he knew that.

Oh no! This wasn't supossed to happen. Nepeta quickly jumped forward in the midst of everyone, waving her arms around and chattering for them to calm down rapidly, before turning to Tavros first. "Tavros! Gamzee isn't the only one who disappeared and he pur-obably has his reasons for it!" She stated quickly, a worried look on her face. And then she turned to Equius, "And don't be so mean! He didn't know, afterall" She added, nodding her head viciously.

That awkward frown on Equius lips tightened a bit more as he glanced over at his moirail, swallowing before he spoke, "I was not expressing any such action Nepeta. I was merely informing him of his ignorance."

_Informing my ass_, growled Jarren to himself, though he didn't verbally express this just, did a sort of glaring sulk as he shoved his hands deep into his annoyingly white coat.

Gamzee on the other hand, hadn't moved from his position below Tavros. He was just sort of blinking up at the sky, as it now occurred to him why he had been looking at stars moments before. So yeah, okay, the Taurus punched him. He probably deserved that, even though Nepeta seemed to think otherwise. Yes he had his reasons, of course he did, but now that he thought about it, he could have also at least told him that he was going to vanish for a while. He wouldn't have had to explain anything to them, just let them know.

Oh damn.

The Capricorn tensed up for a brief moment, as he felt that wildfire rage start tensing his shoulders and the back of his neck. A small panic fluttered his chest. No, he couldn't go into a rage again, not after calming down only minutes before. Gamzee's mind started to whirl, trying to think of how to sooth that anger. There had to be something! Then, _Gamzee, just... shhh_. The Capricorn blinked, as that fresh memory flitted across his think pan, and he clung on desperately to that, replaying it over and over, before glancing over at the source of that memory. That had to be the smartest thing he did all day, because it seems to solidify that instance, and all at once, Gamzee relaxed again, a smile pulling at his lips before he got an idea.

"Well y-yeah, but Nepeta, he still could have, uh. let us know he was going to leave." The fire that had been in Tavros' voice previously, had faded a little now that he was aware of the other troll's and John and Jade's eyes on them.

"It's chill little sis," Gamzee suddenly spoke as his hands rose up to curl around Tavros neck and pull the Taurus attention back to him, "I got my know that I up and deserved it." Then he tugged the Summoner down, tilting his own cranium upwards so that their foreheads were touching. Tavros cheeks darkened just a fraction more, though his lips were pressed tight in determination to stay irritated at the Capricorn, even though Gamzee had the most relaxed happy smile on his face.

"Sorry motherfucker, shit was getting pretty wild, and I didn't want my brother and sisters to be caught in the curmudgeon waves."

Tavros narrowed his eyes some more, though the actual pupils had softened somewhat.

"Tavros, I'm situated in serious bro. I'm really fuckin sorry."

The Summoner caved, a heavy sigh falling from his lips, "Y-you're an idiot." Gamzee's smile grew as he laughed, letting a small honk pass from his lips. "I'm still angry at you. But I can get... uh, situated in some forgiveness."

"Oh gog tis is turnin' sickening."

Equius turned back to Jarren, "I agree that the current interactions are... exceptionally inappropriate, " and at that he paused, pulling his towel to wipe off a fresh sheen of sweat that had appeared on his brow, "Yet you have not stated your place here. I must demand you tell us who you are."

Jarren glared at the blueblood, a scowl on his face, "Sure, ahm Misteh Fuck You." However, his sharp retort turned into a hesitant frown, as a scowl fell on Equius lips. Holy shit this guy had broken teeth to? What, did he bang his head against a cement wall or something!

"How about we all shut the fuck up and go eat already? Jegus fucking gogdammit I didn't think we were just going to have happy-fucking-makeup-time in front of the gogdamn dorms" Karkat seethed suddenly, breaking into the group as he walked right through the midst of them like Nepeta had done moments before, eyes straight ahead with a scowl on his face as he turned to head towards the campus grounds, where the lunch hall was.

Nepeta let a faint smile cross her face as Karkat burst into the group to remind them all of why they got together in the first place, granted it had kinda been sudden, and Gamzee, Jarren, and Karkat hadn't really been involved in the plan until this morning (And even then...). But it was still nice to see that Karkat was still his impatient self, even though some things were obviously different, she kinda missed that old anger, oh, it seemed like it was still there. But to her, someone who had once pitied the angry troll so much, she could see that it was. . . more automatic than before, when it had been real and genuine. It sounded stupid to put it that way. But real emotions were better than forced ones, even if it was anger.

"That's Jarren! He's one of Gamzee's friends, Jarren, this is Equius! He's my mewrail. And that's Tavros, and those two are Jade and... where did John go?" Nepeta asked, glancing around quickly, just in time to hear a very familiar yelling.

"WERE YOU DROPPED ON YOUR RETARDED, PINK THINK PAN? I DON'T NEED TO FUCKING TALK ABOUT SHIT YOU MORON"

Oh dear, looked like John had run up to catch up to Karkat and had tried talking to him.

For the first time since Jarren had met Karkat, he agreed with the male. The whole skipping the emotion fest for chose thing and... kind of on the human being dropped on his pan. Though, that's how the circulatory troll viewed most humans anyway. So he followed after the Cancer silently with a huff, aiming an audible growl at the troll he now knew as Equius' direction, before stomping off. If Gamzee wanted to cuddle with a crippled lowblood, then that was his business... though, he did put in the back of his mind for later. Oh, not for blackmail, he learned long ago it was damn near impossible to blackmail Gamzee Makara. But it would be fun to see the look on Valus' face when he told her. Miniature petty revenge for her using him as a living experiment would be sweet.

"Well shoot, he didn't have to be so mean about it. John was just trying to be nice. Your friend can sure be rude Nepeta, soooo cranky!" Jade smiled as she walked around Nepeta and Equius, giving a smile over to Tavros and Gamzee before initiating a hopping jog to pass by Mr. Smart Mouth and catch up with the mentioned buck-toothed boy and Mr. Cranky Pants.

Equius kept his glare focused on Jarren as he sulked by, holding his tongue only because the male was a higher caste than him. That, and he had other things to attend to, as he turned to Nepeta, "You will avoid contact with Jarren as much as is feasible."

In the meantime, Tavros, having realized the somewhat... awkward position he was in (he was literally sitting on top of Gamzee), rolled off with a small awkward laugh. "Heheh, wow. I guess that, nothing has really changed after, all these sweeps," he glanced over to Gamzee, brows going up when he saw the strange look the Capricorn gave him. I wonder if he is still eats those pies, the male thought silently to himself, giving the Capricorn a sort of reassuring smile, "Gamzee, would you mind, uh, setting my chair back up?"

The Capricorn returned that small smile, relief flooding him as it looked like that Tavros really did forgive him. Man, today was truly filled with all sorts of miracles, as he stood up to go and do as the Summoner had asked, propping back up the four wheel device and waiting all nice and patient, waiting for his peanut butter bro to pull himself up into his comfy seat.

The think pan-damaged human just laughed off his insult, which drove Karkat a little bit deeper into irritation. Oh fuck and now the girl was joining him. He generally ignored them both as they introduced themselves properly (after having been with the two idiots for over half the fucking day), calling them both idiots and informing them that Nepeta had already introduced everyone to everyone else and it was stupid to say their names again because he didn't give two shits who they were.

Neither of them seemed to take that insult very badly, which, again, was frustrating, but he didn't comment on it. It was not fast enough that the building finally came within sight and everyone moved inside (John held open the door for everyone, claiming, with the most retarded smile on his face ever, that he was being a gentleman about it, since gentlemen like Nick Cage, whoever the fuck that was, held the door open for people).

Gamzee and Tavros caught up after Tavros managed to crawl his way back into his wheelchair, and Nepeta had been kind enough to go get Tavros some food for him. Since he wasn't enrolled in this school, he wouldn't have an account to get food with, so someone had to pay for him. And Nepeta apparently had lots of money in her account due to always going out and catching her own food. It was more than Karkat needed to know that she actually hunted small animals and ate them.

When everyone got comfortable, and had food in front of them, a simple buzz of conversation started. There was no real organization to it, just one big clusterfuck of passing words. Gamzee sat at the end near Karkat and across from Tavros. Near Karkat, because the male was sandwiched between the two dark haired human relatives. Equius took a seat catercorner to Karkat in front of Jarren, making no secret of the fact that he was watching the male to make sure he did not do anything funny. Sure the strong male respected the caste system, but he would not allow the highblood to invoke any violent action that might result in his moirail getting involved. Jarren, upon realizing that he was being watched like a wriggler that was expected to spontaneously catch fire and burn down it's hive, was making a point of ignoring the blueblood male, and devouring his food as quickly as possible so he could leave. It felt weird sitting with such a vast difference of blood colors... and species.

"So um... do you still rap Gamzee?" Tavros questioned.

The Capricorn smiled between a mouth full of food, swallowing quickly before responding, "Yeah motherfucker, I still lay down some pretty ill rhymes Got a few of them bitches written on human disc player. Wanna navigate to my dorm later and have a listen?"

"Yeah, that would be pretty, uh, wicked."

"I've got some fucking renovations laying on the walls, so it's sort of messy. Actually pretty dope I guess, kind of thinking of just fucking leaving it."

"T-that's cool. Then I can, show you some of the fires I've been... laying out. I, got this job at a club being a... uh, humans call them a DJ. I work with a human, Dave. You should, c-come to the club sometime. Maybe, uh, tomorrow and I can introduce you."

"Sounds like a plan bro, I could use some wisharmzy, shit's been so buzzy lately."

Karkat wasn't sure how he ended up sandwiched between the two humans, but he sure as hell didn't like it, and he was hearing way more than he cared at all about. Not to mention it was a little off putting the small similarities here and there. Karkat had managed to pick up that Jade was an orphan, apparently her lusu-guardian he meant, had been killed or died or something when she was a lot younger, she lived by herself with her pet dog. Karkat could relate. He couldn't even remember what his lusus was, granted most trolls had left them behind already or didn't see them much. He had lost his a long time ago.

Sometimes he had to come to doubts as to if he ever had one.

John also had this weird thing about being obsessed with a certain genre of movies. Karkat loved Romantic Comedies, and he didn't care what anyone else said. John liked action movies, and was ready to preach the brilliance of one of his human earth actors to anyone who would bother to listen, or not, as Karkat painfully found out while trying to shove an awful sandwich down his throat. God the male could not shut the fuck up.

"So the... guy across from Equius. He's your uh, friend?"

Gamzee tilted his head at Tavros, processing what he said, before glancing down at Jarren. The likes of which had yes, heard that comment, and was glaring back at him and the Summoner, mentally willing them both to go boil in a bucket of their own waste. The Capricorn simply laughed as he turned back to Tav, "Yeah, he's one of my bros. I've played meet and greet with a few motherfuckers since I absconded. Jarren's one of them, the other two closer sisters are Tansis and Valus."

"Oh, are they highbloods to?"

"Yep, but don't get your worry going, they won't bother you."

"Okay. Are they the ones you uh, hung out with after leaving?"

A pause came from Gamzee as he looked up at Tavros, because his voice was growing a little quieter, as if he was about to ask him a big secret. It was obvious, even to the Capricorn, that the questions were leading up to something. Gamzee smiled fondly at the Taurus, leaving his fork stabbed into some of the troll styled gray mush he had been about to eat. "I know I got some trust to up and rebuild, but you're still my motherfucking Tavbro. If you got a question levitating around your wicked think pan, then let it free. Don't keep that shit bubbling bro."

Tavros gave an awkward smile, and leaned in a little bit. The reason for his discretion had mainly been because Gamzee, in that past, had never liked to talk about what was buzzing through the brown-blooded troll's mind. But it was something he wanted to know, so he could try and understand for exactly how much longer they could stay reunited like this. The Taurus smiled a bit when Gamzee mimicked the action, leaning in a bit closer, causing Tavros to release a small laugh.

"Uh, okay. Have you... well, decided yet?"

"Decided?" Gamzee gave a blank blink, that small smile tugging a bit wider as Tav shifted his wait a fraction, apparently slightly uncomfortable.

"Yeah, are you going to... um, follow in _his_ steps?"

The Capricorn's eyebrows came together in confusion, before realization slipped nice and neat in his mind. Almost immediately after it clicked, Gamzee averted his eyes, suddenly taking quite an interest in the food at his plate. He was still smiling, but there was more force to it. Concern crossed Tavros' face as he leaned back, "S-sorry Gamzee."

The highblood looked back up at the wheel-chair bound troll, that smile still there, though indigo eyes did soften a fraction, "No worries bro, I'll get my words on with you about that later. I just don't want any other motherfucker to overhear and get the wrong fuckin' impression."

"Okay, sounds... like a wicked plan. I just want to kind of know so that, uh, I can get some warning this time. Last time sucked a little. You just... vanishing. Then Karkat soon after. No one knew, um, what exactly happened to you two."

"Don't worry motherfucker, I'll make sure you're educated in the know this time. I won't fuckin' make that mistake in round two," and the smile Gamzee gave reached his eye this time, as he scooped another forkful of food to his nutrition chute.

"-We think Frogs colored yellow might have the gene we're looking for , but it's impossible to tell if it'd be recessive or dominant, since we can't get it to breed with the green frogs"

"Have you tried invitro-fertilization? I know you sickening humans like to shoot genetic material into eachother. You'd have to sacrifice a male yellow frog, but you could always remove some genetic material in a syringe to inject it into several female green frogs, and then count off the offspring that occur"

How had Karkat gotten into this fucking conversation about frog breeding with Jade? It was beyond him. Oh yeah, john mentioned something about pets, and then he talked about his salamander, which led to the conversation about frogs, which Karkat interrupted in to give some rude advice on collecting and breeding them, or rather, ordering Jade what to do. It seemed like common sense to him that she hadn't thought of luring the frogs with bait instead of just going out at random.

_time sucked a little. You just... vanishing. Then Karkat soon after._

"Karkat that's a little gro-" Jade began to protest, but was interrupted as Karkat suddenly turned to Tavros, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Repeat that again" He ordered, staring directly at the brown blooded troll.

Tavros glanced to Karkat as he felt that hard stare on him. Sinking back slightly from the look he was being given. Though he didn't back completely off, meeting the male's gaze directly, and swallowing, "R-repeat what?"

Gamzee's gaze turned to Karkat, brows raised curiously. What had the Cancer heard that caused him to suddenly have such an interest in his and his bro's conversation? The Capricorn turned it over in his head, but was coming up sort of blank. Equius on the other hand, understood immediately what had caught Karkat's attention, and he tensed, glancing over to Nepeta as a fresh layer of sweat began to leak from his pores.

Jarren, having felt the sudden change of focus at the table, finally took interest in the conversation. Now what was going on?


	36. Slamming Serious Revelations

"WHAT YOU FUCKING SAID" Karkat screeched, his voice echoing throughout the whole cafeteria, temporarily halting conversation before it carried on like normal, leaving a strange, moments long stretch of silence as he rose to his feet, teeth grinding together angrily, hands clenched into fists.

Nepeta glanced rapidly between Equius, Karkat, and Tavros, swallowing deeply as she felt a chill run down her spine. She hadn't been listening to Tavros' conversation, instead having been eating and listening to Karkat talking to Jade and John, albeit a bit rudely. Her mind raced, thinking of a way to break off this conversation, whatever it was, but for now, caught in the moment, her mind remained utterly blank.

Tavros visibly flinched at the harsh tone, staring wide-eyed as he sort of sunk back in his chair a bit. What? What did he say that could have caused Karkat to look so pissed. Quickly the male pulled up the last thing he had said, that had to have been it right? "O-oh... um. I was just saying th-that after you and, and Gamzee vanished, we uh, were worried and... didn't know what happened, and uh... yeah."

Okay, now Gamzee knew what had caught the Cancer's attention. Oh mirthful hell, this was not going to end fucking well.

"What do you mean, _when me and Gamzee vanished?_" Karkat demanded slowly, hissing the words from between his teeth.

"Uh... A-about three sweeps ago. Gamzee stopped log," Tavros paused to swallow and awkward lump in his throat, "logging on, and then you did t-to..." the male was officially confused. Did he say something wrong?

Karkat stared for a few, very uncomfortable moments at Tavros that seemed to stretch into the length of an entire day. Those eyes were angry, and clouded, as things came to mind, the past few weeks, mainly, the way Sollux acted, small things here and there.

The way everyone who knew Sollux seemed to know him as well, even if he had never heard of them. The way that his mind always skipped around his past, the way that, whenever he really, honestly tried to think about it, something always distracted him, or he suffered from some panic attack. The way his nightmares got worse and worse ever since he came to this fucking school.

They knew who he was.

And they weren't telling him.

It was that that pissed him off more than anything. Why would they lie?

A low growl escaped the troll's throat, before he shoved his tray away from himself, and stomped away from the group, leaving the cafeteria behind him.

"Wh-what... what did I say?"

Gamzee was silent as he stared after Karkat, deaf to Tavros' question, and the sudden quiet that occupied the previously buzzing table. Before suddenly the Capricorn stood up, looking first to Equius and Nepeta, "Get some proper explanation slamming with Tavros will ya?" Then his gaze turned to the Summoner a smile on his lips, "Don't lean into worry bro, it wasn't your fault. My handle's still the same, slip some words my way and I'll respond so you can get your relocation to my dorm later." And then he took off, jogging towards the same doors Karkat had stepped through before shouting over his shoulder, "Jarren, put up my motherfucking tray for me!"

"AHM NOT YER FUCKIN' MAID!" but Jarren's harsh retort was in vain because the Capricorn had already left the cafeteria. Leaving him alone amidst five strangers. Well, wasn't this just fan-fucking-tastic.

Gamzee left the cafeteria, glancing around quickly, trying to spot the Cancer but he was no where to be seen. Shit! He could be fucking anywhere. Indigo irises darted around, before spotting a small group of two humans and a troll, sitting on one of the outside benches. "Hey motherfuckers! Did any of you get your see around a short troll with nub-horns, and what direction he navigated off to?"

The troll and one of the humans seemed confused, but the second human nodded, saying he had taken off in the direction of the dormitory. Gamzee thanked them, and then took off as fast as he was capable. Which in truth, was pretty freaking quick. There was more than one reason, why the Capricorn had only ever been beaten twice in Strife 101 duels. He was all the more quicker, without the presence of slime blurring his world and weighing down his mind. When he neared the dorm, he pause briefly to confirm that a troll matching Karkat's description had entered. He nearly sighed in relief, but instead opted for getting to the Cancer's room as fast as possible.

Karkat slammed into his room, the door swinging shut behind him and slapping against the frame harshly, bouncing off, but he seemed to ignore that it swung wide open. Instead of stopping to fix it, he moved into the small kitchen area, grabbing one of the folding chairs, and moving back towards the door, slamming it shut again, and shoving the chair up under the knob, keeping it shut.

He then stalked over to the window, and pulled the blinds down, leaving it almost completely dark in the room save for the tiny slivers of light that penetrated the blinds. After that, he moved back towards the door, eyes squeezing shut as his head began to pound again, and he leaned against the wall, sliding down into a sitting position.

_'Liars, all of them, aren't they?'_ a voice asked from the room around him. He tried to ignore it, knew it wasn't really there, but his eyes still opened, shutting quickly as they caught a darkened glimpse of that nightmarish form of himself. Fuck, Karkat didn't want to deal with this right now, none of it. He just wanted a fucking second to think about things and not have some sort of gogdamn breakdown.

Small breaths rose and fell from Gamzee's chest, the only sign of any labored breathing from his run. He was staring at door number seven, a small twist in his gut. Man, today was just a fucking roller coaster of bull shit wisharmzy. The Capricorn stepped forward, took a deep breath, curled his fingers in a tight fist, and knocked four times, a soft rap against the door. When it didn't move or swing open, Gamzee had been surprised, before it processed that Karkat probably blocked the door. Damn...

"Karkat?"

"Go away" Karkat replied, almost immediately, talking to both Gamzee and the hallucination sitting across from him, empty smile plastered all over it's bloody face. Today had been fucking ridiculous, he was worn out, angry, and oddly enough, he felt like he'd been betrayed somehow by not being told this, if any of it was true. It was probably one of the only times in his life he would ever rather be asleep than awake.

A long pause came from the doorway before, "No."

Gamzee lowered himself to the ground, sitting cross-legged in front of the wooden surface, shuffling as close as he possibly could, before leaning forward and pressing his fore-head against the door. He was looking at the blurred grooves in the wood, as if he could see right through it, as if he were looking directly at the room's occupant. "I'm not fucking leaving you again Karkat." Hell, cat was out of the bag, may as well rap a noose around it's neck and dangle it above a river of crocodiles.

Karkat bit down on the inside of his cheek, feeling the musty taste of his own blood as his teeth dug into the thin flesh there, out of frustration. Eyes closed, making the darkness in the room seem utterly complete, he didn't respond, merely sat there in silence, refusing to answer. Maybe if he didn't talk, Gamzee would go away.

But the Capricorn didn't go away, he just continued to sit there, silent for a moment, as his mind desperately tried to pull up anything that actually might be of help. He was half tempted to go eat sopor before trying to talk to Karkat, before trying to explain. Shit was always easier to deal with when he had the green haze coating his think pan. And fuck, he was half tempted to go get his clubs, cut through the wood piece by piece. Ding, ding, ding, get through the door, get a prize.

Gamzee blinked, giving his head a small shake. Mirthful hell, he had to stay focused. His hands curled tight into fists, his claws digging into the slightly calloused flesh on his palms, the small shot of pain up his arms, helping him to focus. "Karkat, we didn't want you to get in the know." Wait, shit that could be taken wrong, "It's fucking like... something real bad happened to you bro. Apparently it's wicked dark, because you started having motherfucking memory black-outs about everyone. We..."

No that wasn't right. Sollux never said he couldn't tell Karkat anything. Gamzee had decided that for himself, the others, to his knowledge, did the same. No one had really told Tavros though, because the whole thing had been a sort of unspoken knowledge thing. "I didn't want you to get situated in knowledge, because we don't know what curmudgeon shit you went through, didn't know if you started to fucking remember us, if you'd be all scratching at that glass."

The Capricorn hesitated, turning one of his palms upward to peer at his own indigo blood, curling his fingers so that they rubbed over that same palm, smearing the warm liquid over his gray tinted flesh, "No knowledge on if that motherfucker breaks, what would happen to you."

Karkat hugged his legs a bit tighter, face buried in his knees as he took the words in, wanting to ignore them and just be angry, because that was so much better than being confused. But he couldn't help but listen and he hated himself a little for even considering these stupid excuses as they came from the other side of the door. It was easier to pretend that they were just lying to him because they had done something horrible, to believe that if he just got away from them that the nightmares and the insomnia would go away. But it wouldn't be right.

He let the words circle themselves around in his head, still refusing to answer.

Gamzee waited... and waited... and waited.

No other sound came from the room. However, he couldn't hear shuffling or movement either, so he wagered to assume that Karkat was probably staying in one place. Maybe he was trying to process what he said? Knowing the Cancer, he was probably trying to judge if what he was saying was true. Gamzee buried that small painful sting in his chest, and he silently scolded himself before hurt by something like that. He had to just keep up a reminder that this Karkat didn't know him, this Cancer didn't consider him a moirail. Hell, he didn't even know if when Karkat did remember, if he would still want them to be diamond brothers.

Well damn, he had to keep his mind focused. He could talk, but that wouldn't do any good, just be rambling at the door. That still would make his think pan get all rambled. But then an idea found it's way to him. Man, while Karkat was getting angry thought breakdown's going on, he'd just rap until he was ready to talk. That way he could pass some time until he prompted the Cancer to talk again... or tried to. Gamzee wasn't to good at actually help talking, he always preferred trying to help his brothers with actions. Though that was pretty hard to do when he was blocked from a room.

So it was with little less fanfare than that, that the Capricorn ran his tongue over the palms of his hand to clean up the shallow cuts on his hand and slow the bleeding before he began to tap out a simple beat on his knees.

"_I'm like a motherfucking arsonist, larcenist, creationist,_  
><em>Fighting with these thoughts in mind- analysis.<br>Looking at the sky trying to get high,_  
><em>To realize,<em>  
><em>What I've got to rationalize, in these lies, these rhymes.<em>  
><em>I've been up, been down, like a motherfucking rolling coaster,<em>  
><em>Slipped into the frame of a world with my ancestor.<br>But shits getting real, when the Messiahs appeal,_  
><em>The fucking subjugglators steal, what the world reveals.<em>

_But here I stay, the dealer, the concealer, the fucking believer._  
><em>Looking to the stars for prayers- relievers.<em>  
><em>Yet all i see, is this haze, this maze, this motherfucking blaze,<em>  
><em>In my mind,<em>  
><em>This rhyme,<em>  
><em>Is taking up nothing but time.<em>"

He continued the beat after that, still listening to the words echoing in his mind as he churned over his think pan to come up with more. Gamzee could always think better when he rapped, always word better what was in his thoughts so that he could somewhat understand his own self. Granted, most of his raps ended up being about nonsense or his religion, but shit still made him feel better afterwords. And just like it's purpose, it passed some time as he waited. Giving Karkat some moments, before he tried to speak with him again.

There was still silence behind that door, a few moments lingering where nothing came from the room.

And then, finally, a somewhat hesitant, irate voice.

"...What were we?"

The tapping beat Gamzee was playing on his knees slowed, until with two more notes, it stopped. The Capricorn stared at the door, imitating the silence that Karkat had previously presented. Debating if he should ask him to clarify... but no, he knew what the Cancer meant. He was done playing these motherfucking mind games, especially when he was sober and knew what he meant.

"We..." and he hesitated before saying the second word, a masked emotion as he said, "were best friends." Gamzee clasped his hands together, slouching as his eyes traced over where those long bony fingers of his snaked together, "You... were my motherfucking diamond brother... my moirail."

Silence again.

And then, movement, a shuffling noise, and then a louder, grating noise, the knob jingling as something was scraped against it, moved away from blocking the door.

Gamzee tilted his head, listening to the sound of movement from within, waiting until it fell silent, before he stood and tested the door, pulsating relief flowing into his limbs as it gently swung open. He poked his head in first, a small smile pulling at his lips, as his indigo eyes fell on Karkat, sitting on the floor a little ways from the door. He still looked pissed (he nearly always looked pissed though), but it also nearly appeared like he was pouting.

The Capricorn slipped the rest of the way in to the room carefully, closing the door so that it would remain shut, unless pressure was put on it from the outside of course. In one smooth movement, he turned, slipping his hands silently into the sleeves of his coat to conceal his still slightly bleeding hands, as he stepped in front of Karkat, turned, and then lowered himself to a cross-legged position facing the Cancer, letting his cloth covered hands fall idle in his lap. That small smile stayed. "Thanks for letting me in motherfucker, my think pan had bottom lined and I couldn't think of any more rhymes."

"I can't tell if you are a really good friend" Karkat stated, not even seeming to have heard Gamzee speaking. "Or an absolutely shitty one" He finished, and then wrinkled his nose a little bit, as if getting ready to eat some rather foul medication.

"But I guess either way, I'm lucky"

"Some motherfuckers think you'd be the exact opposite of that," but Gamzee was smiling, because he honestly didn't give three flying chunks of waste about what others thought, "I'm just fuckin' grateful I still fall under that designation. Gotta send some serious prayers of thanks up later. Don't know what I'd do if you got your pan around legit anger for me."

Karkat just bit down on his tongue, swallowing harshly as he shuffled about on the floor a little, that glare turning into a frown. He still wasn't sure about the situation... but...

"No more secrets then, I want you to tell me everything you know about me" He stated simply, staring very intently at Gamzee. "It's kinda horrible being a stranger to yourself, I want to know all that you can remember, I don't care if it's stupid, embarrassing, or whatever."

And he did.

And that was how the entire night was spent.

* * *

><p><strong>AN<strong>

Yes I made up that rhyme rap thing... yes I'm kind of proud of it. XD  
>And to Anon Ed, don't forget that this is an AU-Alternate Universe. In this timelineplace, Gamzee hasn't killed Equius or Nepeta. So they don't technically have a reason to dislike him. If you recall in the comic as well, any interaction they had with Gamzee was generally friendly. : D  
>... even the one where Equius asked to be 'punished' Gamzee didn't show any real violence or anything towards him. ~<br>Until the actual even anyway. x)

Anyway, a continuous thanks for all the love! I'm glad to see that we are still able to entertain everyone with our madness. : D

-_Aussie B. Lemming_


	37. Suicide and Paint

Such a random title

- _Eren S._

* * *

><p>Monday came, and, surprisingly, went pretty smoothly. Gamzee had contacted Sollux, and told him the situation, Sollux, in turn, found out that Karkat had run into Nepeta and Equius, and managed to contact them to let them know all that was going on. And in the morning, right before his first class, Nepeta apologized to Karkat for not saying anything about it. Sollux, on the other hand, seemed to avoid the group, in fact it was like he simply disappeared. Every text was either ignored, or sent back a reply stating that he was busy.<p>

Karkat didn't want to see him anyway, out of everyone who was involved. . .

Sollux lied the most, and the longest.

It wasn't that easy to just forget. Three sweeps was a long time, six 'years' by human standards. Three sweeps Karkat had been left completely in the dark with nothing but nightmares for clues, but he had something now, and he was damn determined to find out what had happened that caused his memory blackouts. But the thing about the whole situation, was that he was scared too. Scared out of his mind. What could be horrible enough to make someone forget their entire life? Sollux could have helped him when it first started, helped him get over it while it was still fresh and able to heal correctly. Because now it was a huge, jagged wound, festering with rot.

Nepeta and Equius came over and sat with him and Gamzee at lunch now, Jade and John did too. Tavros went to a nearby school, so he could only join them for lunch on weekends, but he promised he'd show up when he could.

Tuesday went by a lot better, things had calmed down, started to fall into a rut. Sollux still avoided the group, managing to keep busy at all times of the day with his classes. The two humans of the group somehow ended up helping the trolls with their classes. Some of them anyway, obviously they couldn't help with Strife 101, but they did still start this weird, study group during lunch by Tuesday. Karkat had also given up some of his time both Monday and Tuesday to help jade with her frog breeding project. For as annoying as she and John were when he first met them, they seemed to be a bit more bearable each time he saw them. John was still the most idiotic, brain-numbing, asinine shit-for-his-think-pan human Karkat had ever talked to. Jade was somewhat bearable, a little quirky and clueless, but she wasn't so horrendously stupid, at least.

Wednesday, school was going just as fine.

Until a student committed suicide during lunch, jumping off one of the dorm buildings to their death, right in front of the door.

All classes were canceled for the rest of the week until further notice.

Gamzee sat in the branches of what he had now claimed to be, his favorite tree. He was alone for the first time in days. Between splitting up his time between classes, Karkat, the other highblood's, and the weird study sessions the humans instigated, he had only ever had alone time at night before he went to sleep. Though he did stay up rather late catching up with Tavros through the chat client. They had even planned to meet up on Friday night so that the Summoner could show him where he worked, and introduce him to this supposedly cool dude.

It was a certain Taurus that he texted to now, from his perch in the branches.

AT: sO, sOMEONE JUST, uH, kILLED THEMSELVES,  
>TC: YeAh bRo, ThEy dEcIdEd tHeY'D AlL GeT SoMe hAnG TiMe tHrOuGh tHe sKy. I GuEsS ThAt mOtHeRfUcKeR ReAlLy wAnTeD To fLy.<br>AT: i'M PRETTY SURE THAT'S, nOT WHAT THEY WERE DOING,  
>AT: i'M ALMOST POSITIVE THEY, kILLED THEMSELVES ON PURPOSE,<br>TC: WhY WoUlD A FuCkEr aLl uP AnD Do tHaT?  
>AT: i, uH, dON'T REALLY KNOW,<br>AT: wE'RE THEY TROLL OR HUMAN,  
>TC: I'M NoT In tHe kNoW.<br>AT: oH, oKAY, sO WHY AREN'T YOU WITH KARKAT,  
>TC: I WaS TrYiNg tO FiNd hIm, BuT ThEn i pAsSeD By mY WiCkEd tReE, aNd tHe mOtHeRfUcKeR WaS BeInG AlL BoSsY. aSkInG Me tO GeT My cLiMb gOiNg aNd i wAs aLl... ShIt, I CaN'T Be rUdE AnD IgNoRe sOmE WiCkEd cLiMb iNvItAtIoNs.<br>AT: sO YOU'RE, UH, iN A TREE,  
>AT: rIGHT NOW,<br>TC: YeAh bRo, I EvEn gOtTa a pReTtY SiCk vIeW Of tHe cAmPuS. wHaT WiTh mOsT Of tHe lEaVeS FrEeInG ThEmSeLvEs fRoM GrEeDy wOoD ArMs. : o )  
>AT: uH,<br>AT: hOW ARE YOU GETTING DOWN,  
>TC: MaN, i gOt nO FuCkInG ClUe. GuEsS We'lL HaVe tO WaIt aNd sEe wHeNeVeR It's aBsCoNd tImE.<br>AT: } : (

. . .

"For the last fucking time, I don't even know what the guy's gogdamn name is! Just because I found his body doesn't mean I know everything about what fucking happened!" This was the seventh time Karkat had to explain to these assholes with their cameras and notebooks and microphones.

Today had been going rather well, lunch was nice and peaceful, classes were going great.

And then on his way back to his dorm, he had paused outside the building for just a second.

Long enough for the human on the roof to decide it would be an awesome time to jump down right in front of him and splatter themselves everywhere and scare the ever living hell out of Karkat. He damn near had a heart attack, not to mention how he threw up upon realizing what was in front of him was a human body that had been crushed by the fall, some parts being reduced to jello.

And then, of course, he did what any logical person would do and called 911 for the police and the ambulance, even though the guy was obviously dead. Someone had called the local media, attention seeking bastards. He hated having deaths on the news. All it was, was making a fucking huge ass attention grab at someone's death that they didn't know. It was sickening to profit off someone's death, their suicide.

He just wanted to go in and hope for peace and quiet in his dorm, instead, he was stuck out here, being hounded by cameras and news anchors, gogdammit. The last thing he wanted to do was end up on the five o'clock fucking news.

The camera whores finally tore their attention from him to a so claimed 'best friend' who had showed up upon hearing of the death, going into theatrics about how it was so horrible and so unexpected and they were so happy all the time and how could this happen, and all that bullshit. Karkat was willing to bet that the girl who showed up barely knew him at all.

But at least it gave him a chance to sneak around to the side of the building, locate his window, and sneak into his dorm, that way he didn't have to cross the yellow police tape surrounding the body to get inside. He grabbed his bags, taking a handful of the stimulant pills to keep himself awake and aware, and then hopped back out his window, and headed back towards school grounds, attempting to avoid the news crews if at all possible.

His path, took him heading straight for particular tree.

Gamzee blinked a few times, narrowing his eyes at the figure that made it's unaware approach. A too wide smile slipping over his lips as the shape sharpened itself out to be none-other than the very troll Tavros had asked him about. Man, this was perfect, now he didn't have to play search and find for his bro. Really, by now he should have the other's schedule somewhat down... if it weren't for the fact that he still sometimes forgot his own classes. The Capricorn waited for those eyes to scan or move, or see him, but they stayed glued to that ground as Karkat walked. Well damn, guess he'd have to catch his bro's attention before he could get some talks and a question going.

So as Karkat got closer, Gamzee climbed lower, hooking his knees around one of the lower branches, tightening his stomach muscles and swinging backwards. The end result, had him swing upside down, right as Karkat was about to pass in front of the tree, mere feet from the other's face.

"Hey best friend!"

"HOLY JEGUS FUCKIN'!"

One second Karkat had finally gotten a moment of peace away from those news crews, and, of course, the second he looked up, he was met with a face barely inches from his own that seemed to have come out of nowhere. The result was him nearly screaming, and lurching backwards, ending up flat on his ass as he glared up at Gamzee.

"What the hell? Fucking scare me half to death why don't you?"

Gamzee laughed, he couldn't help it! Karkat's reaction had been funnier than a load of cluckbeasts in a dryer! The Capricorn's mirth slowed down to a chuckle though, when his happy vibrations caused the branch he was hanging from to groan with a warning. "Sorry bro, didn't mean to make your vascular pump reset. You just seemed all kinds of fucking disracted."

He continued to simply hang there, laughter still in those indigo eyes, "Where you navigating to?"

Karkat's glare hardened a bit at the other laughing at him, but as the Capricorn continued, he just scowled, getting up and dusting the dirt off his ass and pants and waiting for the other to stop, arms crossed and an impatient and somewhat irate look on his face.

"You don't just fall down from a tree, what the hell are you even doing in that thing anyway?" Karkat responded, not seeming to register Gamzee's last question at first, as it circled around in his mind. "Not really sure, probably to the strife gym. The dorms are hounded by those stupid news crews so it's impossible to get any peace and quiet there, so I was going to work on my sickles" He added, unzipping his jacket and holding out one of the flaps to show the two weapons nearly flawlessly hidden on the inside. With classes canceled for presumably the rest of the week to allow the police some chance to investigate the suicide, Karkat decided it'd be a good chance to go to the workshop in the Strife gym. Upgrade his weapons for next time Jarren decided it'd be a fun time to instigate another surprise duel. His leg had to be mostly healed by now.

His pride? Probably not so much.

Gamzee gave his head a tilt, a somewhat awkward action to do whilst hanging upside down, as Karkat showed him that he had brought his sickles with him to do what he said he was doing. "Wicked, mind if I get my tag-a-long going? I've got some energy getting it's electrical impulses in my veins, I can do some lap running's and shit while you work on your slicers," at that point he tensed his abdominal muscles and curled, using most of his strength there to lift himself back to the branch, before latching his hands around the wood to get himself the rest of the way up. The branch shook and creaked dangerously while Gamzee adjusted, before jumping down to the ground, knees bending to absorb the impact, before he hopped to a stand beside Karkat with a smile.

"And I like being high up. It's like, I'm fucking closer to the Messiahs, can hear them buzzing happy in my mind better. Also get to have a motherfucking wicked view of the world."

"Upside down I'm more sure that fucking buzzing is the sound of your blood rushing to your think-pan, what's left of the damn thing anyway" Karkat pointed out as Gamzee readjusted himself and jumped down from the tree before that poor branch broke, Karkat was surprised it held out as long as it did, but then again, he'd really not want to deal with Gamzee having a concussion because he fell out of a fucking tree.

"And sure, not like there's much else to fucking do around here" Karkat replied, zipping his jacket back up and readjusting it so that the blades of his sickles didn't jab into his skin and poke him.

"Sweet," he smiled, slipping hands into his pockets and falling in step beside Karkat as they headed for the mentioned gym, apparently not even hearing the comment on himself having an near empty think pan. Gamzee paused for only a moment to glance over his shoulder at some lights flashing from the corner of his eye, hinted that one of the ambulances that had arrived was leaving. Man, he loved those noisy four wheel machines... he wondered if he could get some flashy lights put on Miss Mirth. Or some of that wicked neon. Shit, now he was getting himself excited, he knew what he was going to be doing Saturday!

But now for the present, he actually had some questions to ask Karkat while they headed to the gym. "After you get some slice metal tinkering done, mind relocating with me to the paint shop. I wanna show you your magic painting, see if you want me to change anything on the motherfucker." As he walked, the Capricorn stretched his arms far in front of him until the bones on his spines popped, before locking his fingers behind his head with a small yawn. With such relaxed movements, it was somewhat hard to believe that he had 'energy getting it's electrical impulses' going in his veins.

"Sure, it might take a few hours though" Karkat muttered in a somewhat bored tone as the gym came within sight after only a few minutes of walking, thank gog the campus wasn't too badly spread out.

It did take a few hours, two and a half, to be exact, that Karkat spent fastening a thirteen foot long chain to the ends of his sickles. He had to sacrifice their compactness and folding ability that made them easier to carry around so that the chains could be hidden up in the handles until they were brought out, but he felt like in the long run, this would be worth it, plus the chain was as strong as the blades and could come in handy when blocking attacks.

Two and a half hours that Gamzee spent running around the gym, Karkat had been pretty damn sure he wouldn't have been able to do it for two hours straight, but somehow he managed. The smaller troll watched Gamzee run around the gym for two more laps, before finally stepping out of the doorway to the welding room, scythes back in his coat and hidden from view.

"Are you just about done yet, because I am"

Gamzee stumbled as Karkat's voice floated over to him, mostly because he hadn't been expecting it. Arms flailed out briefly as he managed to retain his balance, taking a few more steps before he came to a stop. Short bouts of breath passed from his lips, a light layer of sweat cooling his neck beneath the long sleeved shirt he wore. He kept straight, crossing his arms behind his head to allow air to come easier into his lungs. Man, he didn't think he would have been able to go for that long. His legs burned and were numb at the same time, lungs stinging slightly with each huffed breath. What an incredible feeling.

After he was able to get his breathing back to normal he looked back to Karkat with a small smile, jogging over to him to make sure his body didn't get any backlash from a sudden stop, literally being able to feel his heart rate gradually begin to slow it's thumping within his chest. "Yeah bro, I'm... ready to relocate. You got your know where... the arts building is?"

Karkat frowned, "No, I don't have any classes there so I never needed to know where it was." He didn't like painting, for various reasons, the main being that he wasn't very artistic, his talent in creativity lay more in words than anything else.

"Alright bro, I'll take, the motherfucking lead then."

They exited the gyms, Gamzee slipping his hands in jean pockets as they walked across the campus grounds once more. Their direction heading towards the theatre, though they wouldn't be going into that particular building, more-so the one directly next to it. It had one of those strange modern metal sculptures in front of it, with a pattern of variously shaped gears welded on it's upwards twisting surface. Really, it was no surprise Karkat didn't know where it was, even if he didn't have any arts classes. The building itself was significantly smaller than the large dome of the theatre, and was situated comfortably in the others shadow.

Inside, predictably, there were multiple paintings from students current and past, hanging on the walls. There sculptures of various size in small lobby, and mannequins with a multitude of outfits. The arts building, supported every form of creation in every possible form. Gamzee led the way up the first flight of dual sided stairs, that wrapped around the currently empty front desk. They continued to climb to the third floor, before the Capricorn directed them down one hallway to a room at the very end. When they reached the door, Gamzee dug around in his pockets, before pulling out a keychain with, predictably, a 2 dimensional mini capricious minstrel hanging from one of the rings.

Gamzee selected the gold tinted key, slipped it in the lock and turned, releasing the clasp that sealed the door, and pulling it open. "Teach gave all his students a key, just in case any of us motherfuckers wanted to work on our projects on the weekend," he briefly explained stepping into the classroom with paint from years gone by, stained on the floor.

The parts of the walls that didn't have shelves with paint cans and various shapes of paint brushes, were broken up into sections, so that students could hang their favored paintings up for display. It was fairly easy to see which part of the wall was claimed as Gamzee's, what with it being covered in circular spots. Currently, only three paintings on his section were up. One, a picture of his Goat Dad leaping through a large wave in the middle of a storm. The second, a rather frightening rendition of a a clown, too long clawed fingers running along the form of a questionable black shape. The final hanging picture, was rather simple, a ferris wheel, painted in a rainbow of colors with a bright red background. None of these Gamzee approached however, instead, he walked towards a partially covered piece in the back. A rolling shelf of canned paints of multiple shades and colors beside it.

The canvas itself was about six feet long, three fit high. Only part of it was painted, though unlike his other more vibrant pieces, this one was primarily done in warm earth tones. The primary focus of the picture, was focused on a sickle on the left hand side, a weapon near identical to Karkat's, the tip of it's blade just lodged into the ground of a cliff just before it dropped away. Around it's handle, a long strip of sharp red cloth, contrasting dark and then light against the setting sun behind it, stretched across the length of the canvas. In the background, a shoreline fading into the distance, with waves spraying up against the rocky surface, and if one were to look carefully, they might just be able to make out the shape of a crab-like lusus perched in the distance. The whole painting had it's base colors, though Gamzee had just started to shade and darken the lines separating the individual components. "Don't get your worry if there's anything you don't motherfucking like about. It'd still be pretty easy to get some modification going."

Honestly, the picture itself wasn't exactly Gamzee's cup of faygo. But the point of the painting wasn't to make something he liked, but something Karkat might like. If the Capricorn had made it to his personal likes, there would be significantly more vivid colors, and the presence of a few... odd accents.

Karkat's gaze lingered on the painting for a while. It was really good, far better than anything he'd be able to do with paint, but...

His gaze flickered to the other paintings in the room, the bright colors and subjects making it all too easy to know who had painted those ones, before coming back to the huge one in front of him. Colors and shit weren't exactly his thing, and he would prefer having something in his room that was more like this painting.

But he also wanted something that reminded him of Gamzee even if the other troll hadn't painted it. Truth be told, if you expect something long enough, you come to prefer it.

Oh gog he couldn't believe what he was about to say.

"I think it's good... but... it needs more colors"

Gamzee gave his head a tilt, glancing first to Karkat in mild surprise, before back to the painting. He blinked at it a few times, escaping into the jumpled think pan for a moment, his mind's eye brushing various colors over the base until he discovered a pattern that he believed would look wicked sweet. "Alright bro, I think I can get some honoring of that request. If you're not in the mind, I'll go ahead and brush some happy colors over it now while my pan still see's it." He straightened a bit, smile brushing over his face before he jogged over to the wall by the door, retrieving a rainbow stained apron and tying it comfortably at the back of his neck and waist. Not that it ever did much good.

Then he went on the hunt for a palette an the brushes he'd need, "Why don't you get some paint going brother? We got plenty of empty canvas in the storing closet."

"I'm not a fucking painter" Karkat retorted somewhat rudely, biting the inside of his cheek and giving that strange, pouting expression again. He didn't mind watching Gamzee paint, it gave him some time to think and, besides, what the fuck else was he going to do today?

"Awww, come on Karkat. Shit will be fun. You can paint whatever you fucking want. Your thinker is the limit, can you just... wrap that around how fucking miraculous that is. Like, the implications of that motherfucker being endless are crazy," and Gamzee was back in front of Karkat's gift painting, various paint cans at his feet of various spectrums, taking a little bit of liquid color from each one and placing it on his found palette. Smiling over his shoulder at Karkat's pouting expression. It was kind of interesting, he'd been seeing that face more and more. Man, his bro was seriously bad ass cute.


	38. Paint Wars

Oh fuck now he was going to start ranting about miracles and shit. "Fine, anything to shut you the fuck up" Karkat caved in, rolling his eyes as he moved towards the supply closet and picked up a random canvas, not really caring what size he took since either way it was going to turn out horrendous.

He pulled it out of the closet and set it up as best he could without making it look like a half-thinkpanned wriggler had decided to just throw it on there for fun. He then glanced around, grabbing a few random cans of paint that were just laying on the floor nearby, and a brush he found on a shelf, and then paused, wondering what the fuck it was exactly he planned to paint.

Though he wouldn't show Karkat, a small smirk of triumph twitched at the corner of his lips, as he turned back to his painting, dipping a brush in first the purple color, highlight the thinner part of the waves and water, before selecting a blue for the deeper, darker parts. He then used those colors to highlight the shadows, and accents, and it was in this manner that he continued. Brightening some of the existing colors, or blending them with simple swirling.

Karkat's eyes flickered over to watch Gamzee paint, trying to figure out exactly how to go about this in a way that didn't involve just flicking colors wherever he damn well pleased. Finally he just gave up, and started painting random lines, forming a stick person out of jade green paint, and then slowly adding... rather crappy details to it, frowning the entire time. He was so awful at this it wasn't even funny.

A small amount of time passed like that. It was peaceful, a hummed tune coming from Gamzee as he went about his work. Before brows wrinkled and a small frown came over his lips. Did he not grab any teal? Indigo eyes scanning the paint cans at his feet, but not finding the color he sought. Silently he set his palette down turning to the rolling shelf close by, and scanning the lables for the one he desired. Nothing, though he was near positive that he had seen it. Face briefly twisted in confusion, he went over the shelf a second time... still nothing. Well damn, where was it? "Best friend, can I bother you for a fucking minute. The teal is getting some serious hiding going, and I'm having some issues with seeking."

Karkat put the paintbrush down on the little wooden holder at the bottom of the canvas of his incredibly shitty painting, and then moved over towards where Gamzee was scanning the shelves. He raised up one hand, and used his sleeve to wipe some sweat away from his brow, dammit it was hot in here compared to outside.

"Yeah just hold on a second" He replied, slipping his jacket off, now clad in a very old T-shirt with his caste symbol plastered over his chest in colorless grey. he threw the Jacket off to the side, and free of it now, began to search through the paint cans. He was assuming that the colors they were stained with were the colors they had inside, so he was really just looking for a blob of teal on one of the cans.

Gamzee smiled a thanks, taking the otherside of the shelf in the search for the elusive teal paint can. The Capricorn started from the bottom up, skimming over the can's for the one he sought. When his gaze returned to the top shelf, he blinked. There in the front row, was the teal can. Oh, oops. He laughed to himself reaching up to grab the can, and parting his lips to declare that it had been found... until he reached a bit to far, instead pushing the can backwards a few inches. There was the sound of other paint cans sliding, a scrape, and the next thing Gamzee was aware of, a massive slosh and squelch of pouring, dripping paint. The Capricorn sort of froze for a moment, blinking, before a few side-steps brought him to look on the other side of the shelf.

He had to bite the inside of his cheek, to keep from bursting out laughing.

Karkat sat on the floor, eyes squeezed shut and his mouth set in a very straight, hard line as he sat there, indigo toned paint dripping all over him from the bucket that now sat comfortably upturned on his head. For a few seconds, he just sat there as the paint dripped all over him, and then, at last, he moved.

Seemingly with all the calm in the world, he moved his hands upwards and pulled the bucket off his head, setting it on the ground next to him and then using his hands to try and wipe the paint away from his eyes so that he could open then and see, before he let loose all rage.

A small hesitant laugh came from Gamzee as he held his hands up, fingers limp as he took a single step back, "Uh... hey best friend. You know, that motherfucking color looks pretty wicked on you," and he gave a genuine smile.

The second Gamzee smiled at him, Karkat whipped a handful of dark paint at the other troll, a scowl on his face. "Shut the fuck up" He seethed, the paint practically boiling off his skin if rage was such a thing that could do that.

The Capricorn attempted a dodge, but was a tad on the slow side, as the glob spattered all up and down his front. There was a pause from Gamzee, and you could almost see the gears clunking in his mind. Before, a downright devious smirk pulled at the edge of his lips. Well, since they both already had paint on them. A light hum passed from the highblood as he briefly leaned down, dipping his hand in one of the paint buckets, before flicking it at Karkat and diving behind a desk for cover from whatever rage the Cancer might be about to bring forth, pulling a paint bucket with him, just in case before calling out, "There you go bro, now you got two love colors getting some cling with ya fresh out of their containment device!"

He was so not going to throw that paint back at oh fuck he did. Karkat just kinda sat there like an idiot as some more paint was flicked his way, hitting his chest and mixing with the purple. He scowled, quivering just a little bit from anger as he carefully stood up, trying not to slip on the paint around his feet as he tried to wipe some more off his face. This was so disgusting, and all he was doing was smearing it around.

That fucking bastard had thrown more paint at him like it was a fucking game. Fine, if the drunken sopor brained shit-fuck wanted a paint war, by gog, he was going to get one. Karkat, in a very ungraceful manner, grabbed the nearest bucket of paint (some shade of orange) and stalked over towards the table Gamzee had ducked behind, before pulling the lid off and dumping it upside down over the Capricorn's head, the scowl still on his face.

Gamzee blinked once as he felt an unfamiliar cool slop soak through the birds next that was his hair, before dripping and evenly coating his face. shoulders, and most of his upper half. He sort of just sat there for a moment, as it fully dawned on him what had just happened, before he brough on arm up, wiping it across his eyes to clear most of the paint, before slowly turning around and peering over the edge of the desk at Karkat. Before swinging his own yellow paint bucket upwards, freeing the content's in the Cancer's direction, while still holding onto said tin container.

Well damn, now he was out of ammo. He gave a smile in Karkat's direction, revealing his fang like teeth, before leaping for a second bucket, prying open the lid in the next movement, and giving a slightly more distracted toss of emerald tinted paint at the male. Silently he was pleased, his unspoken challenge had been accepted.

In the back of Karkat's mind, various things were being processed. Why the fuck was he doing this it was so retarded. Who the hell was going to be in charge of cleaning this mess up. And then a slight awareness that he was completely ruining one of the only sets of clothes he had.

He could really care less at this moment.

Instead, he could really only watch as a huge amount of yellow paint hit him right in the chest, splattering all over his arms and stomach, dripping down and mixing with the darker colored paint on his legs. He stood there for a second, still seething outwardly, and managed to dodge the smaller flick of green paint, mainly by sliding across the floor that was covered by the paint that managed to drip off both of them or generally missed. He slipped, ended up near the shelf, and grabbed a random bucket of brown.

Gamzee was fighting a small fit of laughter as he stumbled in a wide arch around Karkat, indigo eyes glancing from side to side in search of more 'ammo', "I'm sure we ca-woah," slip on some paint, "work this motherfucking out bro! Just ease the miracle bucket down, nice and happy like," damn, the Cancer was the closest beside a healthy supply of paint filled cans.

Karkat glared at Gamzee, snarl still over his face as he lay on the ground, hand tightened around the lid of the brown paint as his mind churned it over. After a few seconds, he decided it would be a better idea to just stop, stop this insanity right now with the paint and get cleaned up or something. So the snarl dropped, leaving a somewhat suspicious look behind as he snapped the brown paint closed, and tried to move up onto his feet without falling back down on his ass.

While Karkat was focusing on getting up, Gamzee was moving on too-quiet feet, navigating to come around at an angle. Oh, the Capricorn didn't have any paint cans at hand, but he was currently covered in still wet ammo. So once he was close enough, he lept in one smooth movement at the Cancer, unable to hide a small bout of laughter as it escaped from his chest, and contact was made.

Karkat had been, more or less, focused on standing up than Gamzee, so when the other troll suddenly leapt at him, he was knocked back down to the ground near effortlessly, laying on his back with Gamzee hugging on him above him. For a second, he seemed too shocked to say anything... and then...

"LET GO OF ME YOU STUPID FUCK WE ARE BOTH COVERED IN THIS SHIT AND IT'S FUCKING EVERYWHERE. OH JEGUS FUCKING GOGDAMMIT"

A laugh freely bubbled from Gamzee's, a playful growl following close behind, until-

"Should we... come back latuh?"

The Capricorn paused, blinking down at Karkat for a moment as if he had expected the somewhat familiar voice to have come from him, before a small squeak brought his attention to three well known highbloods at the door, all with a very noticeable blush tinting there cheeks, "Hey motherfuckers! Nah, it's all chi-"

"GAMZEE MAKARA WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERCIFUL MESSIAHS ARE YOU DOING ON TOP OF VANTAS!" That had come from a flush faced Valus, Tansis to the left, was sitting there with her hand over her mouth in a rather comical expression, and Jarren was making a point of looking at anything but the two of them. Because, oh gog Karkat had some mysterious indigo substance, amongst other colors on him, and without knowing the Cancer's color, any one of the shades on Gamzee could be- "THIS IS... is... oh my gog." and Valus was covering her face as her own thought process caught up to her.

Okay he was not going to sit here with Gamzee on top of him (why did that keep happening anyway?) with three other highbloods, ones he didn't like, staring. So he lifted up both arms (managing to get them out of Gamzee's grip) and shoved the other male away from him. "Get the hell off me!"

"Fuck, I have paint in my eyes and my ears and it's fucking everywhere" He muttered under his breath, attempting to clear some of it and doing absolutely no good.

Gamzee blinked at the pressure on his chest, moving with it and only discovering a moment later that it was Karkat shoving him off, seconds after the first thing the Cancer said registered in his think pan. He gave a small laughing small as he moved, head tilting in bewilderment at the still flushed faces of his other friends, before processing the second thing the Cancer said. With a small shrug at Valus, he stood, walking over to the sink and rinsing off his hands, pulling down one of the wash cloths and getting it moist, speaking over his shoulder as he did so, "What are you motherfuckers getting so embarrased about, shit's only paint, it'll wash off real easy."

Jarren finally looked down at the Capricorn, an exasperated snarl on his face, "Serious G-Zee, again wit teh fuckin' paint?" he rolled his eyes as Gamzee gave only a simple honk as his response, the Capricorn smiling as he returned to Karkat and offered the damp cloth.

"You really don't see it, do ya Gamgam?" questioned Tansis with a giggle, now staring, unblinking, and rather... blank at Karkat.

"See fuckin' what?"

Valus cleared her throat awkwardly, giving sa huffling to one side a bit, "Gamzee, there is various sorts of buckets lying around, and Vantas is primarily covered in an indigo substance, that to newly arrived pedestrians would seem like..." and she trailed off, her voice tight with the restraint to remain as calm as possible, shaking ever so slightly as the Grand Highblood's eyes continued to stare blankly at her. Before, finally, recognition filtered across his gaze.

Oh...  
>OH!<p>

The thick layers of paint effectively masked the slight blush that tinted his cheeks, as Gamzee simply smiled at that. Because hey, it wasn't his fault that other motherfuckers were getting misconceptions running through their think pan. "Aw Val, it wasn't fuckin' like that. I accidentally got some knock down paint going on top of Karkat's pan, and then I thought he looked seriously bad ass cute with some wicked indigo getting some hugs going, that we'd add more colors to the miracle." Of course, this would logically end up in a miniature paint war.

A small smirk tugged at the corner of Jarren's lips, "He's wha'?"

You could literally hear the slapping noise as Karkat's palm met with his face as the conversation continued. "You... did not just" He muttered again, shaking with rage as he raced away from the rest of the group. No, Gamzee did not just say that he looked 'bad ass cute with some wicked indigo getting some hugs going'. That was like, no, it WAS saying that he looked cute with indigo slime all over him.

He was so glad for the paint covering his face, it masked his face turning red rather well.

He wondered if it was at all possible to run out of here as quickly as possible and still maintain his dignity.


	39. Cleaning Up

General confusion filtered over the Capricorn's face. What, did he say something odd? Valus was visibly shaking now, as she rose up a single finger, and beckoned the male closer. Gamzee blinked at the miniature summons, before shrugging, he set the damp piece of cloth he had got for Karkat to wipe off his face if he wanted to, beside the Cancer before navigating over, "How did you all know where to locate me?"

"Process of elimination," hissed Valus, before leaning in whenever Gamzee was close enough, and whispering quick, and by her expression, scolding words at the male. While in the meantime, Tansis was turning and leaving with a small huff, giving a twirl as she left the room, Jarren following close behind with a shout of, "See ya soon Crabbeh, real fuckin' soon."

By the time Valus finished her words with Gamzee, the Capricorn had an exceptionally perplexed look on his face, hazed eyes blinking lazily at her. He parted his lips to speak, but she held up her hand with an imaptient, very small growl, "Don't, just think about it, and take heed of what you do. Contact us later and we can meet up then," and with that, she turned, sparing a very deliberate glare in Karkat's direction, as if the entire isntance had been a fault of his somehow before turning to leave. The Capricorn gave his head a shake.

"Man, I don't got my know how those motherfuckers can always find me."

"Bluh Bluh Fucking Bluh!" Karkat called back out after Jarren as he grabbed the cloth and began to wipe his face off, still making damn sure to face away from the high bloods as he got his blush under control. Even embarrassed, he was not going to reveal his fucking blood color. Hell no.

Thankfully karkat managed to use the rag to get most of the paint off him, it was filthy by the time he managed to clean his face off, but he still used it to wipe off excess paint from his arms, legs, and chest. He still planned on showering with these clothes on, though, since paint was still smeared all over himself.

"What'd she bitch to you about?" Karkat asked, eyes flickering over to Gamzee as he focused on getting as much paint off his shirt as he could.

The Capricorn gave a small shrug as he picked up the mostly empty paint cans, setting them back on the shelf, "Mostly she seemed to be getting some worry that you and I's diamond bro-ffection was pushing in another directional course. The other shit..." Gamzee gave a pause, indigo eyes on the ceiling as for a moment, he simply just fell quiet and still. Before looking to Karkat once more, lazy smile spread across his lips, "Not fuckin' important. I don't really remember most of it," and he laughed at that, wiping some loose orange tinted paint as it began to drip down into his eyes. "Sorry about the paint clothes best friend, that was pretty dope fun though."

_He was lying._

Karkat felt an immediate need to point this out, but whatever it was seemed to bother the Capricorn a little. He hated being lied to, especially after finding out only a few days ago that he did actually exist past three sweeps ago, and it actually hurt a little that Gamzee lied about something that seemed small. But dammit, Karkat kept his mouth shut about it, and hated himself for that a little bit more. Even after all this fucking time, he still wasn't determined enough to push, even a little bit.

"It was fucking stupid is what it was" The cancer retorted in a somewhat foul, but regular manner for him, though he did have to admit, at least to himself, that it was... nice to just kinda... forget about things for a moment during the whole paint throwing and what not. Even though he had been mad, he hadn't been tired or sore or confused like all of the other fucking time. Though... his thoughts did linger a little on what Gamzee said first. About Valus being worried that their Moirailty might change into something else.

"You gotta enjoy the little things brother, no matter how empty of think they are. Life's a miracle, but it's waaaaay too motherfuckin' short to fret over the seeds of things... man, my teach is gonna be a bit peeved I guess. Better get him in know that I'll pay for all the magic paint we used," and Gamzee laughed, but a part of him, the part he buried, felt guilty. Because the Cancer was his moirail again, and he was supposed to be able tell the male nearly everything... but shit. He knew that Karkat now knew about certain aspects of his life, but he still hadn't remembered those specific parts. Would the male reject him, if he knew what he had decided to do? Nah, informative time could wait, he would not risk loosing Karkat again, not this soon.

As much as he kinda wanted to just go back to his dorm and curl up in his recooporacoon after taking a much needed shower, Karkat would feel a little guilty if he just left Gamzee here to clean this entire mess up by himself.

"Yeah well the 'little things' made one hell of a big mess" Karkat pointed out, glancing around at all the paint splattered all over the floor. He frowned, looking for any sort of cleaning supplies. But none were in sight. "Are there any mops or anything fucking around here?"

After fishing out the mops from a closet in the hallway, the two set about cleaning up as much of the mess as they could. It took some time, but after Gamzee pointed out that they didn't need to get all of it, seeing as the floor was stained with paint anyway, the process went a bit faster. When they finished, the Capricorn went over to the teachers desk, hunting around for pencil and notepad paper. He scribbled a note in a rather... erratic cursive, signing it with his favored emote smile before returning to Karkat's side with a lopsided grin. By now the paint had all but dried over the indigo-blood, as the only effort he had made to wipe any of it off had been on his face.

"I feel like a motherfuckin' paint beast gone old. Man brother, I think a visit to our abulation traps is in order."

"It's going to take hours to get this shit out of my clothes, so might as fucking well get started with the self cleaning" Karkat agreed, pulling a flake of semi-dry paint off his shirt and flicking it to his right, towards the ground.

"Alright, sounds like we got a plan in motion," the Capricorn confirmed, taking a last glance at the reason they had entered the art room to begin with, before exiting with Karkat, locking the door behind them with a light hum, before they navigated back onto the school grounds. There was a steady buzz going around, as students gathered in various sized groups, passing the unexpected free time predictably with nonsense and social amusements. Gamzee gave a wave at a seadweller with a mustard blood and crazy haired human at his sides, before looking back to Karkt.

"Hey Best Friend, I got another fuckin' question to run by your pan."

He had enough things running through his fucking think pan, why not add another? "What?" Karkat asked, keeping his eyes focused on the ground, as was usual when he was walking. Looked like the crowd had dispersed around the dorms, which meant the mess had probably been cleaned up and the news crews departed or moved on to other parts of the campus by now.

"Tavbro got me all invited to visit a club Friday called... shit, Clockwork or something I think. Want to shadow along?"

"I'm not exactly the type who likes to go out. Besides, your fucking highblood friends don't exactly like me being around you, at all"

Gamzee stopped walking for a moment, tilting his head and looking at Karkat with an odd expression on his face (what one could see of it through the paint still there anyway). "I don't give a handful of flying musclebeasts what those motherfuckers like or don't like when it comes to you. You're my bro more than theirs. Besides, they're big trolls, they can fuckin' climb over their issue and get over it." and he smiled as he gave a small shrug, stepping up beside Karkat once more, "So was your answer situated in yes or no? My thinkers getting a bit fuzzy again," and he simply laughed at that, as though he had just found his own words amusing.

That was kinda what Karkat was worried about. Most trolls tended to get over their issues by violence, if at all possible, and despite his words and threats... he hated fighting. He hated death. He hated blood. He bit down on his lower lip, seeming to seriously consider it before sighing, "Fine, I'll fucking come"

Gamzee's smile grew up as he looked away from Karkat in time to dodge around a small group sitting on the grass, "Sweet words brother. Don't get your worry going, those motherfuckers won't be there anyway. They may be friends, but shit, I wouldn't trust Valus or Tansis around Tav... probably should see if Jarren will let me borrow his truck, so that way you don't gotta ride on Miss Mirth again."

Oh fuck he totally forgot about the gogdamn motorcycle. He'd rather walk then ride that thing again, granted he would rather walk then ride most types of vehicles, so that wasn't saying much, but still. On the other side, he could understand Gamzee not wanting them near Tavros, Fuck he was sure the only reason they didn't jump him was because he had proven he may be able to seriously injure them, if not outright beat them. Valus he thought of as a huge bitch, but her and Tansis both sent off huge alarm systems in his brain, Tansis moreso, for some reason.

Jarren didn't piss him off any more than Valus or Tansis did, probably less then them, actually. The dislike towards him was moreso the same that was shown towards Equius in the 'why do you have to fucking talk to me and be creepy gogdammit' kind of way then anything else. Jarren also wasn't terrifying to deal with, so that was probably another thing.

Wait

_'I wouldn't trust Valus or Tansis around Tav'_

You did not just fucking feel the slightest bit jealous, nope. Karkat felt like punching himself in the head. Luckily he managed to restrain this urge, since it would probably raise some questions.

While they walked in what Gamzee thought to be rather comfortable silence, he pulled out his phone to go ahead and text a certain circular troll, about a certain truck.

TC: HeY MoThErFuCkEr, i nEeD To gEt sOmE ThAnKfUl bOrRoWiNg oF YoUr fOuR WhEeL DeViCe fRiDaY.

TR: WhaT FoR?

TC: DoN't iNfOrM ThE FeMaLe gEnDeReD BrOs, kArKaTs gOiNg tO ChIlL WiTh mE In tOwN, AnD He dOeSn'T HaVe mUcH LoVe fOr mIsS MiRtH.

TR: ShiT HavE TO ChangE FridaY PlanS..

TR: BuT SurE,, WhateveR.. GiveS ME A ChancE TO CatcH UP ON ShiT..

TC: ThAnKs bRo yOu cAn dRiVe mIsS MiRtH If yOu nEeD A RiDe.

TR: FucK NO.. MisS MirtH WilL FucK MY CorpsE SO HarD I''lL TurN TO PurplE BloodeD DusT.. IF YoU CaN BrinG BacK MY TrucK WithouT AnY ScratcheS,, That''lL BE ThankS EnougH.. I''lL BrinG BY ThE KeyS FridaY MorninG..

"Green light on the truck Karkat. We are fuckin' set for Friday amusement times."

"Guess I'm going then" Karkat replied dryly, rolling his eyes as he forced his mind off the topic that had been floating around his think pan just seconds before. He sighed, knowing he must seem distracted, but fuck, it was just hard to focus after watching someone commit suicide in front of you, even if you didn't know them.

It wasn't even that late in the afternoon and all he wanted to do was curl up in his recooporacoon.

The rest of the walk went smooth enough. When they got to the dorms, Gamzee glanced down towards the main entrance, indigo eyes focusing and steps faltering for just a moment as a slightly darker patch of the concrete caught his attention, before he snapped his eyes away with a simple 'honk'. He didn't say or mention anything else as Karkat took the lead, directing them on a longer route to one of the dorm's other entrances. Once inside, Gamzee looked to Karkat, still silent, before raising up one hand to give the male a very brief, light squeeze on his shoulder, before stuffing those limbs back into his jean pockets.

"If you want to chill later bro, just get me informed."

"I'm probably just going to take a shower and go to sleep" Karkat responded simply, shrugging a little after Gamzee removed his hand, a little off-put by the motion, but decided to not make such a big fucking deal out of such a little thing. There, the rooms, he muttered goodbye to Gamzee, feeling a little bad for the lie, as sleep was going to be just as nonexistent tonight as nearly any other night. And with that, he slipped into his room, shutting the door a few times before it actually stayed. Jegus Christ he needed to get that thing fixed.

Gamzee resisted the small laugh that bubbled at the back of his throat, as he silently watched Karkat's door deviate from supposedly shut, to open a few times until it finally closed. With a delighted hum he entered his dorm, made a straight line to his abulation trap, turned up the water, and hopped in. He focused primarily on his hair, giving it the first proper scrub it's had in... well, quite frankly a few weeks. Not that he had anything against the orange tinted paint that was getting comfy on his skull, he just didn't want mischievous scratches tickling his skull for the next few days.

After he was all nice and squeaky clean, he stood with a languid stretch. The bones in his spine popping in quick succession, as a pleased smile filtered from his lips. In his mind he had a plan, eat some more pie, grab a few faygos, lounge in the horn pile, and just listen to the world. On his way to his nutrition block however, the chat client on his computer dinged, and the screen briefly flashed opening up a window. Gamzee paused, glancing curiously over his shoulder, before stepping carefully over two horns, before leaning down to look at the flashing box.

His entire body locked up, at the username, and two words that sat there.


	40. In which things get a lot worse

This is going to seem horrendously out of place, but beleive me, it's in your best interest to read this chapter

_- Eren S._

* * *

><p>One slender hand slid out of those soft, soft silk sheets, grabbing at the alarm clock and shutting off the screeching at once. Then the sheets pulled back, revealing, first a pair of tall, bright golden-toned horns that stood straight up from a soft mass of black hair that framed a rather adorable looking face, the face of someone in their teen years, waiting to get rid of that baby fat in their cheeks, but still having well developed, and very feminine, facial bones. Her eyes were almond shaped, and seemed the perfect size for her face, a tad bit large, again helping in making her seem younger than she truly was, but they seemed to match her.<p>

Her eyes opened, revealing no color, not even the yellow that most trolls had around their irises, instead, her eyes were pure white, seeming to glow ever so slightly. She slipped out of her bed, a smile making those lips curl just slightly. Most of those she knew, human and troll alike, found it peculiar, the way she slept, but she had never felt a need for a recooporacoon, besides, it was always so annoying to get it out of her hair. She wasn't bothered by the nightmares that tended to plague her race, rather, she enjoyed them.

She moved towards her closet, her slim, slender body finally breaking away from the mound of blankets at last, revealing her nude form for only a few seconds as she slipped on a shirt (she was so small chested she had no need for a bra, even at eight and a half sweeps old); It was pale blue, with her caste symbol in white on the chest. It was an upside down heart, with a line and arrow beneath it, pointing upwards. Then twisted, slipping her arms into the sleeves .The shoulders had been cut out and then sewn, leaving them connected to the shirt only by a strip of cloth just beneath her armpit. The shirt was long, reaching down past her waist just enough to conceal the shorts she put on next, making it seem as though she wasn't wearing anything at all beneath it. After that, she slipped on shoes, or rather, sandals, twisting the straps up her legs as she hummed to herself, eyes closed and a smile still on her face.

Now ready for the world, she stepped out of her respite block, still humming to herself as she esccaped into the long hallway, each one lined with doors with stars on them, so cliché for humans, but she had to admit, having a bright purple star on her own door amidst the group of yellows did make her feel special. The star on her own door, purple, also had a name across it, permenantly embedded into the door. 'Ceecee Ayers'.

Yes, that was her name, Ceecee Ayers, a teenage actress well on her way to fame, following in the footsteps of her ancestor. Sure, most trolls had something scary as their ancestor, and were proud to attribute to that.

Ceecee, or Cee, as she preferred, felt no need to reinforce her natural personality using the attributes of her ancestor, she was plenty terrifying all on her own, when she felt she wanted to be. She had various loves, and talents, acting happened to be one of the areas where love and talent combined, so she followed it, as was natural to her. So, this was why she was being so carefree, all the time, with no thoughts as to what others thought of her. Afterall, she was here to act, not please anyone. And it was one of her days off, she had just finished shooting the last scene for a movie yesterday, and she didn't have to be there to watch it all get strung together and edited and however long that would take. She would likely have weeks of free time ahead of her now, which she just loved. Always with so much fuss about makeup and hair and clothes and bluh! But still, once she was on camera, it all melted away and became real, like she was truly the person she played as. And it was exhillarating to become someone else, if even for a few minutes.

Her nearly bare feet padded on the carpet floor silently as she entered the lobby of the apartment building. It was set up next to the movie studio specifically for actors to reside in so that they didn't have to drive around like crazy to and from work, especially in such a busy city. There were several people in there already, two girls and five males. One of the females, a shorter troll with hair that had, at one point, been black, now dyed a variety of interesting colors like cyan, light purple, lime green, and a streak of dark blue in the front. She had two, crooked horns that sat out at weird angles from her head, twisting and bending in odd directions, the left one pointing down and back at the tip, the right one pointing up and back. She wore small glasses on her face, rounded with no frame on the bottom, seeming to make her pale green eyes even bigger. It was this troll that Cee snuck up on, a devious look on her face as she suddenly flung her arms around the female troll's neck, opened her mouth wide, and clamped her teeth down playfully on the other's skull, muttering out something that was left completely intelligble.

"Good morning Cee" The female who seemed to be getting her head chewed responded calmly, and then shooed the other troll away from her hair. "I hope you didn't slobber all over me"

Cee kept her arms folded around the female's neck, a bright smile on her face. "Nuuuuunnnn~ Maka, bestest Moirail everrrrr~"

"You two are so weird" One of the male trolls in the room stated, focusing on his video game playing over the screen. He had a short, buzzed haircut with yellow eyes that nearly matched the sclera of his eyes. He had two horns, about five inches long, that curled backwards ever so slightly.

Cee just stuck her tongue out at him, hugging her moirail a bit closer. True this compound was normally reserved for actors, but they were allowed to give an extra room to moirails. Afterall, there were some highbloods, like Cee, who stayed in the compound, Cee may not be the most volatile one, but she could still be dangerous, so she needed her moirail close by. That was Maka Briana, who had nothing to do with the production of movies, but instead, a tech head and a raver. Her talent lay in robotics, and she was fucking good at it.

An actress and a geek, moirails, it was the kind of thing that you normally saw in movies, which was one of the reasons Cee loved it so much. Besides, her moirail was shockingly excellent at calming her down; because Maka could tell when she was angry, even if no one else could. Maka's pressence was one of the only reasons half of the caste was still alive and unmutilated.

"Awwww Jaceeeenntttt~ are you jealous of our quadrent?"

"psh, as if! I got enough to deal with my kismesis, the last thing I need is a moirail to make sure doesn't go around murdering people" Jacent replied with a hard laugh, rolling his eyes at Cee, who just kept sticking her tongue out at him before finally letting go of Maka and jumping over the couch, taking a seat next to the female troll as she reached for the remote.

She had slept till late into the afternoon, and she wanted to see if her little experiment had worked. She smiled to herself as she pointed the remote at the TV, and turned it to the news, electing various shouts from all the guys in the room as the screen changed from the raceing game to a news report. The woman was talking about the weather right now, but that wasn't what Cee was interested in.

Instead, she just hushed everyone, her voice so calm and quiet that they all were suddenly unnerved by her blank eyed expression, a small smile on her face, as she stared at the TV, seeming oddly determined.

"In other news today, a student from Skaia University was discovered dead this afternoon just outside of the dorm rooms-"

"Cee, the fuck are we watching this?" She hushed him again.

"_For the last fucking time, I don't even know what the guy's gogdamn name is! Just because I found his body doesn't mean I know everything about what fucking happened!"_

A laugh from Cee made everyone in the room jump.

"Found you found you found you!" She cackled, laughing so hard she had to grab her sides. Finally, her laughing subsided, as she paused the TV screen, freezing it on the wriggler-eyed troll, a devious smirk crawling all over her face. She hadn't gone through all that trouble for nothing. The voices told her that this would lead her to the correct school, to convince that boy to kill himself, she wasn't sure how it would work out, but it did, she always listened to those friendly voices of hers. They never told her wrong. She licked her lips, and then siddled up against Maka's side, pulling out her phone and logging onto one of her favorite chat cliants.

- - tenaciousObsession [TO] began pestering terminallyCapricious [TC] - -

TO: Skaia Nuiversity

- - tenaciousObsession [TO] ceased pestering terminallyCapricious [TC] - -

She smiled, turning her phone back off as she closed those glowing white eyes of hers.

"Maka~" She stated, forcing the other troll to look at her as she reopened her eyes, staring directly at the woman's face. "Get me into Skaia University. Whatever it takes"


	41. Attempt to Track

Don't worry guys, we know a few things are kinda unexplained right now, but it'll reveal itself in the story, just be patient XD

- _Eren S._

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes passed, and Gamzee had not moved a muscle, was hardly breathing as he stared... and stared.<p>

Then he was laughing.

"Shit," the laughing paused at the word, before rising somewhat in intensity, lowering again as he then repeated that word, "Shit," laughing picked up, "Shit" laughter, "Shit" laughter, "Shit-shit-shit-shit-SHIT MOTHERFUCKING SHIT!" and his claws bit in the wood of the chair and he was shaking. Visibly shaking like a meth head four days clean. The yellow of his eyes were turning read, and his breathing came ragged as he fought. Fucking fought with all the little voices that began to invade his think pan, at the one voice above them all, who laughed in such insane variations of high and low pitch, that if one outside his mind were to hear it, they would probably feel as if they to were slipping into some kind of madness.

His left hand tore away from the woods flesh, striking like a serpent at the base of his neck on the right side of his shoulder, claws digging into his own skin. Focus, he had to motherfucking focus. He would not go into another fuckin' rage, not so soon after the last one. Not so MOTHERFUCKING soon. He began to pace, because dammit if he wasn't doing SOMETHING then he'd be hunting down to kill SOMEONE. Ooooh, that actually sounded good. How long had it been since he had killed? Gamzee came to a pause, a chill racing up his spine. Everything had felt wonderful at the time, the voices had all hushed, the yellow tinted blood was flowing like liquid gold and stuck beautifully to everything he brushed it against. The half-torn expression...

Gamzee dug his claws deeper into his shoulder, a mumbled curse falling from his lips. Damn it he needed to fucking focus. With his free hand he retrieved his phone from the counter at the sink, dialing a certain troll with a slightly darker shade of yellow blood, than the one in his memory file.

Sollux had been working on something, homework actually, when his phone rang. He ignored it for a few seconds, and then finally pushed himself away from his desk and looked at the caller ID. Oh, it was Gamzee. He had assumed it was Karkat

Again.

The red blooded troll had left some rather pissed off messages on his phone and he assumed it'd be best to just... stay away for a while, because a face-off right now would end badly. Fucking hell he had only been trying to help and he wasn't fucking good at this, it pissed him off that Karkat was angry at him for doing what he thought was right, but at the same time, he could understand his mistakes, and that just pissed him off more, at himself and at Karkat.

He picked it up, and flicked it open. "Gamzee?" He asked, a little confused as to why the highblood was contacting him.

"Come over. Right. Fucking. Now," growled Gamzee, indigo irises flicking from one wall to the other, glancing slowly after the long since dried honks he had written there days ago. The Capricorn bit back a laugh, a small fluctuating his coming instead, "MOTHERFUCKER KNOWS, knows, knows," he didn't resist the next laugh, letting it bubble from his throat. He dug his claws in deeper.

"Shit, gotta fuckin' focus, honk honk. Sorry Sol, but if you don't navigate here, I'm motherfucking relocated over fucking there." his voice was shaking, unsteady, as Gamzee could feel his blood all but burning.

Sollux wasn't sure whether he wanted to follow Gamzee's command, or hide somewhere. But fuck, he really did not want the psycho capricorn in his room. Fuck. He didn't want to just leave Gamzee freaking out there either, chances were Sollux wouldn't be able to get a hold of Karkat in time to be able to tell him to move the fuck away for now.

That really left him with one choice, even though he wasn't too clear on the situation.

"I'll be there in less than a minute" And then he hung up, shoving the phone into his pocket, and absconding out the doorway, heading outside and towards the other building.

Gamzee stared at the phone after the beeping started to signal that the call was disconnected. Silent, he listened to the sound, focusing on the way it echoed off of his mind. Before that right thumb rose and pressed the little red end button. Claws staying latched into his neck, he slowly lowered himself to the middle of the floor in his main room, free hand grasping around one of his horns and give a few, slow honks. Focus, fucking focus.

Sollux entered the hallway, stopping only for a second outside Karkat's door, listening carefully. He could hear the shower running in one, and the noise of a slow honking in the one next door, and figured that all was well, for the most part, before going up to Gamzee's door and knocking. He had been around enough high bloods the last few sweeps, thanks to Feferi, that he knew at least somewhat how to act. He wasn't sure how bad Gamzee was freaking out, but he was still throwing out all precautionary stops.

The honking stopped, hesitation coming from room 8, before Gamzee spoke, "Enter," and he waited, quiet, sharp indigo eyes peering unblinking at the door. Waiting, until the bipolar troll made his appearance. A thought crossed the Capricorn's mind, and he tightened the claws in his shoulder, sinking them a little deeper as a shudder crossed over his back. "Try... to move motherfucking slow. My pan's not in the prettiest FUCKING place right now. Not to a lowblood."

Gamzee looked to the ceiling, giving his horn another tight squeeze as it issued out a long honk. Before he released an airy laugh that had no depth, and nearly sounded like a wheeze, "Sorry bro, I'm in the know, shit's uncomfortable. I'm motherfucking trying... trying. I'll give you some red alerts if I loose my GRUMPTION AS HELL, chill."

Sollux opened the door, slowly, closing it behind him, and approaching Gamzee, but making sure to stay a safe distance away, sensing that the troll was teetering on the edge, fuck, why had he come here? He did, though, follow the capricorn's orders, fuck he probably would have moved very slowly even if he hadn't been told, arms in front of him to show that he had no weapons, meant no harm, shit like that.

"What do you need me to do?"

Violent indigo eyes slipped back into focus, his head giving a slight side-ways turn as it lowered, pupils contracting as they fell upon the sightless black pits that had once held Sollux's eyes. What a nice sight. "See if you can track her. Motherfucking find, that BITCHTITS, trace her all the way to a slippery hell. She's coming, she's purchased her ticket. I'll summon Valus later, she'll use her vile information skills, track any new students coming in. There's always a fucking trail, my lowblooded brother. Always a motherfucking trail. Hooooonk, honk-honk." Gamzee's shoulder had gone numb, he could barely even feel his claws dug through his clothes and the grey flesh there anymore. Until he twitched or moved them anyway. "Shake up that pan of yours, try and get some thinking on ways we can be keeping my diamond fucker safe."

He had been fucking talking to Pscyho-troll girl again, Sollux frowned, and nodded slowly before backing up, and moving his nonexistent gaze to Gamzee's computer. Truth be told, he had already tried to track her once, but whatever she had been using was guarded against him, he hadn't had enough time to get her exact location down before he kinda... freaked out and exploded her computer from afar. She had not been happy about it, as he later recalled.

"I worked hard to keep him alive this long. I won't let that asshole get anywhere near him over my dead body" Sollux responded, assuring the other troll that he was already thinking up ways. The first was, of course, to never let Karkat out of their sight for long. TenaciousObsession, from the few times he had spoken with her recently, seemed like the type to take advantage of even the smallest opening.

"I need to use your computer, is that okay?"

Gamzee blinked up at him, claws sinking in a few more millimeters, the indigo blood stain spreading further across his long-sleeved shirt, "Yeah... kept motherfucking logs, case you need that shit." and then he was moving, shuffle crawling across the floor, to a bag next to his recupracoon. He zipped it open, digging through it, growling a little in frustration, until he found a rather large jar with a strange substance in it that looked a lot like fine sand. Every movement caused the nearly translucent sparkling substance, to give off a fine dust. Gamzee finally released that hold on his shoulder, blood soaked claws and fingers warm, as he twisted off the jar, and dipped the still dripping hand in there.

It was his stardust, and it clung and clumped along the indigo wet appendages, as he grabbed a handful of it. Then he simply rose that fistful of the substance until it was about a foot above the jar, and slowly loosened his hold, watching as the heavier grains fell with a gentle hiss, and the lighter floated up, sparkling and catching the colors in the room. Call it a ritual of sorts. "If we can find out her motherfucking face, we can find out about motherfucking her."

Sollux decided it was in his best interest to shut the fuck up right now and get to work, so, without another word, he slipped over towards Gamzee's computer, quickly bringing up the saved text logs that the capricorn held with the other female.

Okay yeah he had kinda been expecting this, but thank gog she had not gone all out on Gamzee.

Sollux had gotten pictures, audio files, fucking camera clips of shit, it had not been easy to deal with, especially the audio files. Some of that stuff he was never going to be able to get out of his mind. Also part of the reason he had been avoiding Karkat, hard to talk to someone after you just got finished to them wailing in horror while being tortured.

He shook his mind clear of that, and logged onto Pesterchum from Gamzee's laptop. He wished he didn't have to be talking to her in order to track her crazy ass, but...

- - twinArmageddons [TA] began pestering tenaciousObsession [TO] - -

TO: Oh Mr. Piss-blood  
>TO: Did you hear? I'm on my way<br>TO: I will kill you when I find you

Oh what fun, she was still fucking pissed off at him for blowing up her computer.

Gamzee blinked up at where Sollux sat at his husktop, typing away at... whatever the fuck he was doing. Fuck this would be such a good opportunity, so motherfucking simple. "No, no, no motherfucker. Need our flip sided brother," the words came as a whisper, his bloodied hand dipping into the jar of stardust once more, wrapping up another handful of the stuff before he pushed himself to a stand and navigated to his nutrition block, leaving a trail of the shining substance in his wake.

He returned with a bottle of faygo in one hand, a stool in the other, setting the stool down none to gently in the middle of his floor. Then, licking away some of the blood and stardust still stuck to his left hand, he sat down, opened his faygo, took a swig, and stared. Didn't say anything else, didn't do anything else, just sat unmoving, unblinking, as he watched Sollux do his business from a distance. Silent.

Sollux was completely absorbed into the computer now, not so much the chat, he only replied enough to keep her talking, keep her online, though he wasn't really paying attention. Instead, he entered her profile, and began to work, tracking down her IP address and connecting it to a grid program online. It was supposed to just be a map of streets, but if you were smart and knew your shit, you could trick it into mapping out IP addresses for you. It was zooming in, each number being carefully scanned, getting him closer and closer to the owner's location.

He almost had a fucking zero-in, he had been seconds from getting the number of whatever she was using to talk online, and then it all went haywire.

"FUCK!" He slipped it out on accident, pounding his fist on the desk and biting down hard on his tongue, feeling mustard colored blood on his taste buds.

And then a video feed opened.

For a moment it was silent, and then a voice came on, heavily distorted.

_"Fuck you Piss-blood, you won't play these little tracking and hacking tricks on me again. I want to speak to the Highblood, I know he's there"_

Gamzee glanced to Sollux at his sudden exclamation, hand flinching as if to move to do something, before he released an incredibly audible, low growl that seemed to all but shake the air around him, and he was staring at the husk top, staring at the little box that came up. But he didn't move, didn't speak. Not yet. Indigo eyes narrowed.

_"What's the matter Mr. Grape Jelly? Not feeling talkative?" _The voice demanded, a high pitched laughter following it. _"Are you teetering? Trying not to kill Piss-Blood? I would, splatter him all over the walls and make him eat his own colors" _

The Capricorn blinked, "Honk," and then he released a small laugh of his own, though this one sounded strangled, as if a noose was tightening around his throat. Resistant. "Of course I am motherfucker. But I already got wicked paint on the walls. Don't want to ruin the wisharmzy of my fucking miracles already etched in. Drawn like a MOTHERFUCKING RAINBOW OF MIRTH... shit bitchtits, you sound real fuckin' funny. Like a ribbitbeast exploded in your throat."

Another laugh came from the blank video feed, no, more like a giggle. _"Nope~! No ribbitbeasts here Mr. Grape Jelly!"_Silence again, a voice in the background, whispers impossible to understand thanks to the mic distortion.

"Well damn, I kind of like those little noisy fuckers." Gamzee leaned back a little as his faygo was uncapped, a swig taken, followed by an audible sigh. "So Miss Death Wish, what can a subjugglator do you fucking for. Already got me in a MOTHERFUCKING RUMPUS, lay on my pan your thought fucking words."

_"Hehehehehehehehehe~! I like that name"_ She responded simply, you could almost feel her smiling on the other side of that black screen. _"I was wondering something~"_ You could hear shuffling now, as if she was getting closer to the speaker. _"How did your painting session go?" _

Indigo eyes hardened, as Gamzee's entire form locked. It no longer seemed as though he were breathing. Sollux was forgotten, "You're gonna have to be a stardust grain more specific sis, I do a lot of happy motherfuckin' paint times."

_"Hehehe! You know exactly what I am talking about highblood!" _

"Actually no motherfucker I FUCKING DON'T. Got two pretty paint palpations in my pan that I've recently enjoyed. If you don't wanna be motherfucking SPECIFIC, guess we'll have to switch chat time back to the motherfucking ribbit hoppers."

_"It honestly confuses me a bit Mr. Grape Jelly! Voices keep switching between so many things. Tell me, matesprits, or moirails? I thought kismesis at first, but you definitively don't hate the little lowblood" _

"Guess it'll have to be a motherfucking mystery. I don't have to tell you shit MYSTERY BLOODED BITCHTITS." The faygo bottle was set to the ground, as Gamzee stood, pulling his hand up and latching it back into the flesh on his shoulder, where those claws sunk back comfortably in the still fresh indentions there, "Shit, my think pan's groaning. Why do you want to fucking get in the know anyway?" he was beginning to shake a little again, silent breaths coming short and far between.

_"I want to know what it is I'm going to be taking away from you." _

Then Gamzee began to laugh, a maddening sound that fluctuated violently in pitch as he all but doubled over, taking stumbling steps towards the computer, grabbing the corner of the desk with his free hand, before the laughter ended with three mumbled honks, and the Capricorn looked up so he was staring the screen. "Faith bitchtits. Mother. FUCKING. FAITH! Miss Death Wish doesn't know what real grumption shit this is. Only knows what the PRETTY LITTLE VOICES get their motherfucking whisper about. If you get to pick a prize from the top shelf, then I'll just get started VAST AND EARLY motherfucker. Get started real fucking early."

_"So you keep rambling, I'm so demented for thinking I can come up against you"_She responded in a voice that was far too calm, with a hint of mocking laughter in it. Then, the screen went silent, as if the audio had been turned off, even the background noise gone.

And then, something else started up, footsteps from the screen, remarkably clear. Sollux, where he was forgotten in the back of the room, felt his empty eye sockets widened as he recognized what recording that was.

A single scream was all that managed to get out from the recording, painfully clear and oh so familiar, before the top suddenly flipped shut, and the laptop turned off, surrounded by the slightest haze of blue and red, which stayed that way. Gamzee might loose it for him using his powers to shut it off, but nothing would calm him down if he had heard the rest of that recording.

Sollux's action was probably the best thing in the long run. But the scream had been heard, what frail wall that had been keeping his mind together turned to dust, and the tensity that had been present in his entire body, relaxed in a single wave. A hardly noticeable movement came from his right hand, the left slowly unlatching itself once more from his shoulder. "Honk," and he glanced over that shoulder, the yellow of his eyes stained a solid, vibrant, red as he looked to Sollux with a smile, "Red alert motherfucker," and the right limb swung, spiked juggling club in hand as he twisted with the movement.


	42. Oh Fuck

Fuck.

Sollux's eyes narrowed as he took a step back, feeling the immediate change in the atmosphere even if he couldn't see it. It was a really good thing he could sense things, instead of seeing, it gave him a few seconds of forethought, the time to feel the action in the air before it actually happened, so with that first swing that came his way, he flew backwards, ramming himself up against the wall and out of the range of the juggling club, for now.

Gamzee was on him in a singular breath, dipping briefly as a second of his deadly clubs that laid around, found purchase in his left hand. The Capricorn lunged, each weapon coming at Sollux from either side, one aimed towards legs, the other upper body, with a violent, honking swing.

Sollux couldn't back up, being against the wall now, and did the only thing he could at the current situation rather than take both hits, and ducked down, taking the one to his legs in the side of his chest instead. And holy fuck did it hurt. Gamzee certainly hadn't gotten any fucking weaker that was for damn sure. He was thrown a little to the side, landing on his stomach as he coughed, wincing from the pain in his chest for a second.

The Capricorn gave a jumpback, twirling the heavy metal clubs near effortlessly in both of his hand with a few amused spins. Holy fucking hearts that had felt fucking satisfying. Gamzee rolled his neck, the bones there popping, skin tugging at the self-inflicted wound, though he hardly noticed. Indigo eyes were glued on Sollux, as he took slow steps towards where he fell, "Tried to stop lowblooded motherfucker, tried to MOTHERFUCKING CONTROL THE HAPPY LAUGH THOUGHTS! Fuck Karkat's lung squeal. Makes me wanna make him make it, but then it motherfucking doesn't, THEN IT FUCKING DOES!"

Gamzee stopped eyes lowering on Sollux, "I'll make her scream when I find her... have to settle for a MOTHERFUCKING SUBSTITUTE for now." Then he swung both clubs downward at the male.

Sollux's eyes seemed to glow for a second, a white light flickering between them rapidly as that same glow, alternating rapidly between red and blue, flickered around Gamzee's clubs, a force of psionic pressure shoving them away from him, pushing Gamzee back.

As soon as the highblood had been pushed away, Sollux rose up to a sitting position, the flickering between his eyes going insane with it's speed as something in the kitchen moved, a loud, grating noise of something heavy being moved across the floor.

The highblood regained his footing with an irritated snarl reverberating from his chest, turning that red-eyed indigo glare on the mustard blood, the scraping noise going unnoticed as he made a motion to swing... but stopped mid-action as the that odd scratching sound grew louder. Gamzee directed his gaze over his shoulder, towards his nutrition block. There was a fraction of a second where he stared, an expression akin to mild surprise filtering across that mad gaze, before he lunged to the ground, as the miracle he had witnessed was thrown, right where he had just been standing, and a crash was heard.

. . .

"HOLY HOPING JESUS FUCKING CHRIST"

A fucking refrigerator flying through his wall was not what Karkat had been expecting. He had just gotten done with his shower (it had taken a while since he decided to just soak his clothes down and clean them while he was in there anyway), and was coming out to get his clothes, clad in only a towel around his lower waist and a towel thrown haphazardly on his head to keep his hair from dripping water every fucking where, the ends of the towel falling down to conceal his shoulders and his upper back, when he heard noises coming from Gamzee's room.

He had planned to go and see what the hell was going on, just in case, but thank gog he just stood there and listened for a few seconds, because had he not, he would have walked right into the refrigerator's path.

And now he was left staring into a massive fucking hole in his wall into Gamzee's room, an expression of blank surprise plastered all over his face as he looked at the two troll's on the ground from the other room.

Okay, ow, that kind of fucking hurt.

Gamzee pushed himself off the ground. In his haste to dodge his flying refrigeration device, he had actually fallen on one of his spiked clubs. Shit didn't impale him completely, but it had scraped his abdomen with two pretty lines pretty good. When the slight dust resulting from that portion of their dividing wall being reduced to rubble, settled, the indigo blood glanced up to see the damage. That mad appearance on his face dimmed somewhat, at the incredibly vibrant red eyes staring at them through the rather sizable hole. Oops.

"... hey best friend," his voice was still too even, too level, but there was the hint of a smile to it... albeit a hesitant one.

Karkat just continued to stare through the hole, not speaking for a few seconds since, after all, a refrigerator had just nearly taken out the entire fucking wall between his room and Gamzee's. It was like he couldn't quite understand what just happened.

"Did you just throw a fucking cooling unit through the wall?"

One could see the gears turning in the Capricorn's mind as for once, he appeared to be very carefully considering his answer. He pushed himself to a crouched position on his floor, wincing just slightly at the tug in his gut, as his gaze looked silently at what remained of the wall, then to the cooling unit that now laid unmoving in Karkat's bathroom. Finally, he looked back to Karkat, "Nope. It was that motherfucker over there... man, my fucking faygo's going to start to get warm now," and he turned with a frown to Sollux, a whole mind fuck of emotions going through his head, though Gamzee was remaining still and outwardly calm.

Okay so apparently the near death by flying cooling unit had calmed Gamzee down, or something like that, or maybe it was the fact that Karkat was now talking to him through the hole in the wall, either way, he stayed right the fuck where he was, that light still flickering rapidly between his eyes, but the energy wasn't going anywhere yet, just ready to protect himself again if need be.

Karkat just stood there, the fact that he was damn near naked not yet registering in his own mind (or he probably would have been a lot more panicked and awkward than he was right now, and this was already damn weird and uncomfortable). "Uhm... What happened?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in a somewhat worried manner as he looked at the state of the other room, Sollux on the floor holding his side with his powers all fucking over the place, Gamzee with his juggling club things out, and two long cuts against his stomach from landing on one.

"I was going to make Sollux scream like a motherfucker... can't remember if I was actually going to kill him though," a blank, almost dead expression came across Gamzee's eyes, as one of his hands rose up first to the self inflected wound on his shoulder, to the one on his gut almost absentmindedly, as if he was making sure the wounds were still there. He didn't seem to have no qualm for what he just said, no guilt. A small hint that shit still wasn't good. Then his head gave a sudden tilt, and those mad eyes came back into focus, "You manage to give all the clingy freedom to the paint on your clothes brother?" It would have sounded like a change of subject, but really, there were just too many thoughts. Too many sounds.

That... was extremely worrying.

He sorta ignored Gamzee's question, eyebrows coming down as he flicked his gaze towards Sollux again, and decided it best to focus on the highblood in the area. "Gamzee, can you calm down?" he asked, trying to stop the rush of red that threatened to cross his face as he was reminded of his current condition with clothes.

Hesitation entered the Capricorn's think pan, lips twitching as those still ruby rimmed indigo eyes, looked silently into the much more vivid, yellow rimmed red ones. Slowly, his fingers felt like they were starting to throb, the area around his wounds thrumming as the more hazed numbness began to seep over him. Lips parted as he nearly spoke something, before they snapped close, pupils dilating suddenly as they came to focus on one of Karkat's arms.

Tracing what appeared to be the hint of an old burn.

Fists clenched, and Gamzee began to shake.

"I don't fucking think so," it was said barely above a whisper, and then in two blinks, Gamzee was gone. The door to his room swung wide open.

Moirailty was a fucking bitch.

"Shit!" Karkat swore, biting down on his bottom lip as he disappeared into a different room, rapidly getting dressed in basically the first pair of pants (which were actually shorts, but whatever, he was kinda in a hurry) and a simple Black T-shirt, and rushed through the hole in the wall, helping Sollux to his feet first. He got a quick low down on the situation, someone had contacted Gamzee, and pissed him off to the point where he had gone over the edge. Karkat didn't need to know who this person was, or what they had done, just where the fucking psycho highblood had gone.

Once he made sure that Sollux was able to walk on his own (he may be pissed off at him but that didn't mean he wanted him seriously injured or anything) he ran towards the door, red eyes scanning for the indigo blooded troll. Shit! Where did he go?

Gamzee's breath came fast, but even, as he finally came to a stop at the opposite end of the block where all the dorms for the student's at Skaia U were located. He leaned against a heavy shadow there, breathing, blinking. It was late evening, the sun had already nearly set, the days shorter due to the change in seasons. The upcoming winter. The Capricorn groaned, clawed hand rising to rub down the length of his face, smearing his painted on expression, that hand smearing his indigo blood with the white and charcoal substance.

SHIT, they were coming from everywhere now. The giggling screams, the memories. Fuck he needed to... this urge, this desire that was stronger than instinct, so powerful that it was if it was weaved into his very genetic code. It pulsated under his skin, increased with every beat of his heart... and he made to close his eyes, but froze as he saw someone, a woman, alone, walking away from the campus grounds, crossing the street.

Before he was even aware of it, Gamzee felt his feet moving.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!" Karkat muttered beneath his breath, eyes scanning the area around him for the much taller, crazy haired troll as he zipped around the building, nearly running into various people, muttering half-hearted apologies for jostling them as he zoomed on by, looking for any sign of the highblood. Fuck! He couldn't see Gamzee anywhere, had he gone off campus?

She was a pretty little thing really, for a human. Short cropped air, wide brown eyes, not to thin but not to hefty. But she did carry a sort of arrogance to her in that far too innocent smile, in that confident stride. Made it to fucking easy. Without shoes, he had been able to move quietly, with the sun going in front of her, he had cast no shadow she could see. All it took was a moment when it appeared no one was around, when an alley worthy of stereotype appeared, and Gamzee had her.

The first clawed hand clamped over her mouth, the second dug into her abdomen and pulled. The only sound a slight scuffles as her tennis shoes scraped against the ground and she released a muffled scream into his hand. Then they were in the shadow, then they were in his domain.

The stranger was shoved against the cement wall of the store, her eyes nearly doubling in size, as she saw her attackers face. Another scream and pitiful whine came from her covered Mouth, hands coming up to fight, claw, push him away. It did little good. Gamzee had both height, and strength on her. He laughed, and she attempted to scream again, until it was cut off half-way as the Capricorn pulled back the hand that had dug into her waist, pointed his claws, and stabbed them into her abdomen.

She jerked, tears streaming down her face as a sobbing shriek bubbled in her throat. Every time she started to struggle again, he dug his claws in deeper, deeper.

"Hush and shush motherfucker. HUSH, and motherfucking shush. You're going to do something for me soft fleshed monkey. Do you got it in your think pan what it is?"

A quick "no" came in the form of her head shaking back and forth, before a muffled whining sob came forth as the troll curled his claws in deeper.

"You're going to let me cull you in the prettiest FUCKING way. Put you in your PROPER motherfucking place." the hand in her abdomen retracted, and her struggle renewed. Until Gamzee pinned her with his side, brought a red and indigo stained claw up to the side of her neck, and slowly, deeply carved the word 'honk' into her flesh.

Whether it was an adrenaline rush, or over-whelming fear, the woman put all of her strength into one movement, hands slamming against the side of the arm over her mouth, it's hold faltering. She started to give a shriek.

Half-way through the sound, Gamzee snarled, and shoved his fingers into the female's speak hole, those claws digging into her tongue. A vile sounding, gurgling sob, festered at the back of her throat at the new waves of pain that shook her enter body. "You got some motherfucking gumption lesser species bred MOTHERFUCKER! I wonder how long the fucking monkey can live, with rips on her vascular pump."

Karkat had taken to running around in a blind fucking panic. Not exactly the best solution, but fuck, he couldn't think of what to do. And then he heard it, the sound of a shriek ended before it could really sound, it was quiet from where he had been, but he had fucking heard it and that was his only clue.

He turned, running down the street, glancing down any nook and cranny before he finally spotted two figures in a rather creepy looking alleyway (gogdammit it just had to be a fucking creepy alleyway), and the shape of one figure told him all he needed to know.

"Gamzee! Stop!"


	43. Crossing the Line

"Gamzee! Stop!"

That too tall figure froze, arms going rigid, one hand still shoved in the woman's speak hole, knuckles bent against the roof of her mouth to keep from biting. Blood trickling from the corner of her lips from her impaled tongue. The other hand had been in mid-motion, about to perforate where ribs met the bottom of her sternum, slightly curved. One could imagine what it's intention had been.

The Capricorn's prey let out a gurgled whimper, as wide terrified eyes attempted to look over at the new voice, but other than that she didn't move, uncontrollable fear causing her limbs to shake. Then Gamzee moved again, a small action as the hand suspended to impale, twitched forward about an inch, before an enraged snarl ripped from his throat and instead of claws entering flesh, his palm slammed against her abdomen, over the wound there, and effectively pinning her to the wall. Then indigo eyes met red ones, "WHY? Why should I MOTHERFUCKING stop?"

Karkat winced as if he was the one getting hit when Gamzee shoved his palm against the human's stomach, biting on his lower lip as he swallowed.

"Because you wouldn't fucking drug yourself if you wanted to do shit like this"

The red rimming the Capricorn's indigo irises receded slightly, grip loosening a fraction, before he looked back to the woman, brows furrowed together. He was looking at her, as if he was just now seeing her, and she whimpered, and on reflex he angled the claws in her mouth deeper, causing a strangled scream to release itself. "I can't motherfucking stop it. CAN'T FUCKING STOP IT. Dark Carnival always comes Karkat, always MOTHERFUCKING comes. I tried... I tried... honk, I FUCKING TRIED." his thumb at the woman's stomach, pressed against a part of the flesh there that wasn't wounded, slowly penetrating the surface as she let out a weak whimper, body starting to go numb.

Karkat wasn't sure what the Dark Carnival was, but it sure as hell fit into the clown persona thing going on. Probably insane whisperings to kill everyone and everything. Most higher bloods had that, it was like a genetic back slash of being higher on the color spectrum, the higher you were, the more unstable you were. But still, it was nothing to be taken lightly. Karkat stepped a bit closer, setting his mouth in a hard, thin line, refusing to let any sort of emotion (especially fear) show on his face. "Gamzee, look at me" He stated, a voice that was not an order, but not a suggestion either.

"You just need to calm down, it'll be okay, okay?" He was close enough now to reach out and touch the other male, and he did so, gently patting Gamzee's arm to try and divert his attention, to calm him down.

Mad indigo eyes flickered back to Karkat, the sharpness in them, dimming slightly as he swallowed. Hesitating, all those little voices that had been screeching in his mind, dimming.

"Ooooh it will, will it?" a voice all but purred from the entrance to the alley, her lips pulled back in a sweet little smile, "What's wrong Karkat? You don't like seeing what Gamzee's really like?"

About a hundred different, rather colorful swears ran through Karkat's mind in the span of a second, all of them followed by the same name, 'Tansis'. Fuck.

"No, I fucking don't. Because he doesn't want to be like this. If he did, he wouldn't have a fucking moirail" Karkat spat back, trying as hard as he could to keep his voice calm, his hand still on Gamzee's arm, very gentle and relaxed, even though his body screamed at him to tense up, he refused to listen to it.

Tansis giggled, "Is that soooo? Answer me this then, cute little, red-eyed, Karkat Vantas. If he is so against it, then why-oh-why would he choose that as part of his future?"

A growl came from Gamzee then, as the female highblood took two steps forward, indigo eyes hardening for more than one reason. "That's not MOTHERFUCKING WHY and you MOTHERFUCKING KNOW IT!" But Tansis was ignoring the Capricorn, her eyes glued on the Cancer as she took another step towards them, stopping a good 5 feet from the little show in front of her.

"And for that matter Karkaaaat, supposed moirail of the Grand Highblood, what would happen to you?"

Karkat didn't respond right away, didn't move, didn't seem like he was even breathing, as the wheels in his mind slowly turned, clicking into place, and making way too much sense than was comfortable or necessary. Gamzee was the fucking descendant of the grand highblood, and was planning to follow in that monster's footsteps. Why the fuck would he even bother with a moirail at all? Why bother reopening things that were dead and for-fucking-gotten long ago? Why drag him through this stupid emotional bullshit if he was likely just going to kill him in the end?

Karkat took a few steps forward, towards Tansis, and then curled his fingers into a fist, and punched her in the face as hard as he could.

Tansis hadn't dodged, because she had not expected the Cancer to... well, fucking do that. She knew better now, as she spat some of her violet blood on the earth, propping her upper body off the ground, blinking as her face throbbed and the world span a little bit. Slowly she stood, violet eyes rising to glare, hard, and cold at Karkat, that too sweet smile still on her lips. "Oh now, that wasn't very nice little lowblood," And from her sleeve, a metal rod dropped and grasped itself in her fingers, and as she pulled back it extended, longer and longer in the span of a few seconds, as she lashed it forward.

But the metallic whip never made it close to Karkat, as suddenly the deadly Capricorn was there, hand snatching the extended, flexible blade from the air and twisting it around his hand, not even wincing as the unreal steal sliced into his skin, "Don't you MOTHERFUCKING TOUCH HIM!" Disappointment filtered into Tansis' eyes, that smile turning to a pouting frown, though there was caution there now.

The human woman, was slouched to the ground, unmoving, shaking, bleeding. Completely unaware of what was happening around her, and what exactly was occurring.

Karkat hadn't even moved to start to dodge the whip, mainly because he didn't fucking care if it hit him or not by this point. But instead of surprise coming across his face When Gamzee caught the attack, rage was there. "Why the FUCK would YOU care?" He demanded, his voice bordering on a line between anger and hysteria. "All this fucking time..." he muttered under his breath, literally shaking before turning around, ignoring both of the highbloods now as he moved towards the human instead. Fuck he hated them, hated a little bit of everything right now.

He helped her up to her feet, not giving two shits if either highblood attacked him and killed him while he was helping her get the fuck out of here.

But neither moved. Tansis because even she wouldn't dare to do anything to Karkat in front of Gamzee after his rather blatant demand. Gamzee because, he didn't know how to fucking respond, because a small part of him didn't know why he did. It was something he had just always known, something that had always been a fact. It was why after all these sweeps, he still- "Karkat-" but the male was already out of the alley, was already leaving with the barely conscious human. Was already gone.

Silence.

The sun began it's final descent.

Gamzee growled, wrapping the whip blade twice more around his fore-arm before jerking, pulling a startled Tansis forward near effortlessly, other hand lashing out to twist in the front of her two baggy shirt, pulling her to her toes, face to face with him. "That's twice now motherfucker. MOTHER-FUCKING TWICE! "

"No offense dear Grand Highbloooood, but you shouldn't have let it go one this far to begin with!" and she was pouting, like a fucking child, eyes wide with the damn lip and everything, "He's in your blood stronger than past generations, you even carry his loooovely likeness more than the other's recorded."

"I know, I MOTHERFUCKING KNOW! So quit FUCKING TELLING ME"

"I tell you because you seem to keep forgetting. Every since HE showed back up, you've seemed to forget about Valus, Jarren, and I, about how we found you, how and why we helped you. You know dear Gamgam, as well as I, that one day you'll snap, and you won't be able to come back down."

Then Gamzee near literally through her to the side, unraveling her weapon from his arm, rubbing his hand along the clear cuts silently, before he glanced back up at her for a long moment, "Leave."

"Gamz-"

"Mother-FUCKING LEAVE!"

Tansis huffed, turning on her heel to exit the alley, hitting the barely noticeable switch to change her whip, back into a metal rod. But as she made to make that last turn she was halted as Gamzee spoke one last thing, "Tansis... if you harm him in any way. I will fucking find you, and I will motherfucking kill you. You feel me sis?"

She stared, a small giggle falling from her lips, before she responded, "But of course Grand Highblood," and then she left, because she had other things on her mind. Other amusements to be had. After all, she wondered what Valus' reaction would be, to know the rare blood that flowed through Karkat's veins.


	44. Don't Want to Fucking Live

After a fucking ten minute walk and then finally finding someone with a cellphone on them to call nine one one so that an ambulance could come pick up the poor woman and whisk her away to the hospital, and Karkat found himself in a fucking waiting room, just sitting there in the big, white, empty space, utterly devoid of other patients.

Normally, he wouldn't have been here for someone he didn't know, much less a human he didn't know, but he had to be here, had to know someone was watching him, or he might do something he might not live through. As it was, he was already mentally arguing with himself.

_I am so fucking sick of being a toy, so sick of people using me, trying to kill me, trick me. Fuck._ That was all he felt like he was to people, a fucking toy._ 'of course you are! You're a fucking mutant, a freak'_ oh gogdammit it was that fucking nightmare him again. He could almost feel it sitting beside him in the waiting room. The sticky red blood pooling over the seats, across the floor. FUCK. It wasn't real, not there, not there. 'And the others are going to know your little secret soon. They'll kill you anyway, so why not make it on your own terms?'

No, fuck you, shut up.

'_go back to the dorms and get those sickles. A quick slice across both wrists, and it'll be over in seconds'_

He remembered hearing something about that, when someone died of blood loss, they felt really light and airy just before the end, that sounded nice. Wait, fuck, no he was not thinking about that. Just go away, leave me alone.

_'or you could just push to the backrooms and swallow as many pills as you can get your hands on'_

He'd be unconscious before he started feeling anything if he did that.

_'fuck, you could even grab a spare needle and stab yourself in the right place, get it perfect, and instant death, no waiting, no more lies'_

Oh gog just go away. Go away go away go away go away go away.

"Sir?"

"Please don't make me leave"

Karkat blinked at the words that came out of his mouth before he even realized what he was doing, staring down at his hands, and feeling sick to his stomach.

He had stood up at some point, and walked into the backroom when the nurse at the desk hadn't been paying attention, in his hands, an open (but full, thank gog) bottle of high level pain killers. He felt like throwing up, he hadn't even noticed he'd been moving. Quickly, he shoved the pill bottle into his pocket, shaking a little as he tried to hide them, various emotions eating away at him.

"Sir, you can't be back here, I'm sorry, but you have to be in the waiting room"

He nodded numbly, biting down on his lower lip as he moved automatically back to the waiting room, retaking his seat in that silent emptiness, guilt, shame, and something close to depression kept reminding him of what was in his pocket, what he could do with it, what he should do. He tried to think of other things, like where he was going to stay tonight. He couldn't go back the dorms, he didn't want to run into anyone, talk to anyone, or even fucking see them.

"Hello Mr. Dammad, you're a bit late today," the receptionist scolded, smiling as the one she spoke to scowled at her.

"Dun give me tat shit A-Gie, ah told ya yesterday. Let teh Doc know ahm here will ya?"

"What, no please? No, thank you goddess for putting up with me? What a rude little infant!"

"Fuck no, ahm nottuh infant, ahm a beast."

"Keep telling yourself that hun."

Jarren walked away from the front desk, straightening his popped collar with a smirk, as the gal behind the counter went about calling this doctor for the circulatory troll. Man, it had been a long day. Ever since they finally found Gamzee, with the Cancer by no surprise, Jarren had had his day seriously free'd up. Valus had been upset, wining and bitching as soon as they were out of the public eye, but honestly, what could she have expected without letting Gamzee know of any plans before hand? With a sigh he plopped down in a waiting room chair with sigh, slouching down into it and getting comfortable.

It usually took the doctor a while to show up, so he was prepared to pull out a frisbee to practice controlling the circular item, when his eyes scanned the room over a troll sitting at the opposite. He nearly dismissed him, until those nubbed horns registered in his think pan. Even with his head bowed, Jarren could recognize that troll just by those sad little horns.

"Woah... Crabbeh?"

"I swear to fucking gog you highbloods are everywhere I gogdamn turn. Is today a fucking festival? Did I forget to check my calendar? _Is it stalk the __**freak**__ day?_ If I wasn't so fucking aware of my own para fucking noia I'd be pretty sure you assholes were all fucking stalking me"

Karkat didn't bother raising his head up, just letting that little rage tangent spill out as he heard the fucking frisbee troll's familiar voice, sharp teeth snapping together angrily with each word.

"God yer so fuckin' full o' yerself ain't ya?" growled Jarren, glaring at the male, as he shoved his hands into his pockets. Despite the fact that statement probably belonged more to himself than the Cancer, "Ahm not here fur you, bulge-brained fuck-head. Besides, ah gave up giving two shits about yer weird colorless eyes weeks uhgo." Dammit, when he told him he'd be seeing him real soon, he hadn't meant THIS damn soon.

Karkat's head snapped up, those vibrant, red eyes narrowed into a glare. "Well your fucking friends were sure as hell interested."

Jarren literally jumped, his own eyes going wide, and he was silent for a long moment. Before, "Yeah... okay tat's pretty fuckin' weird. Kinduh creepy actually. Tey always look like tere glowing like tat? No fuckin' wonduh G-Zee lied to us when he said he didn't know yer blood coluh." Then Jarren blinked, "Wait, mah friends? Shit, Valus er Tansis?"

"Does it fucking matter? Tansis is going to blab her fat bitch mouth to everyone anyway" Karkat replied in a sour tone, pulling his legs up onto the chair, hugging his knees as those eyes of his went foggy and distant. "Oh what a fucking surprise, Gamzee, lying"

The circulatory troll blinked, honestly, a little surprised by Karkat's tone at his last sentence. Damn, last time he had seen them, Gamzee was still trailing after Karkat like a lost barkbeast wriggler. "Teh fuckuh only does it cuz he tinks he has tuh. Never met someone so fuckin' afraid o' his own damn self. Still doesn't make it any less fuckin' annoyin'. Wha' happened?" Okay, to clarify, he was not fucking curious about what happened between Gamzee and Karkat, he was just passing time... okay, no, he's curious as all hell. But he wasn't going to admit that to himself, and if anyone ever asked, he was NOT having a conversation with Karkat Vantas in a semi-civilized manner.

Karkat must have been really fucking out of it, because he burst out laughing, a sound that bordered between creepy and hysterical.

"Everyone only fucking does it 'because they have to'! That's the fucking excuse each and every gogdamn time. People can't tell me the fucking truth, people can't be honest with me. I feel like I should fucking die"

He blinked, confused by his own words as he bit down on his tongue to stop himself, shaking his head. "wait fuck, no, ignore that. It doesn't matter, I just don't want him anywhere fucking near me anymore"

Yeah, okay, Vantas was really starting to creep the hell out of him now. Which was probably why it took him a while to process what actually was said. He was just silent, staring, blinking. Yep, this wasn't fucking awkward at all. What, was Karkat having some sort of emotional breakdown. Lucky fucking him. "Ignore which part? Lots uh fucked up things in tat statement Crabbeh. If ya actually try tuh kill yerself, lemme know so ah can abscond teh fuck away. Ahm fuckin' fond of life tanks," he gave an innocent enough sweep of his hand with a smirk, "Tere ya go, honesty from uh selfish bastuhd. So tis question won't probably help yer state of whatevuh teh fucks goin' through yer creepy pan now but frankly, ah don't fuckin' care. So ya mean tuh say you've nevuh lied ta one o' yer friends? Tuh either protect tem or keep tem from worryin?"

"I lie about a lot of shit, the fact that I don't fucking sleep, I barely eat. My blood color. What I don't lie about is my fucking life. I'm not the one who decided it'd be a fun idea to just randomly start talking to an old moirail who couldn't even remember who the fuck they are, I'm not the one who decided to reestablish a fucking moiraility when I was planning to grow up and be a merciless fucking killer anyway."

Okay, so what happened was starting to piece together. Well, at least three things. Tansis saw his blood color which was... yeah, a pretty big fucking deal. Not that Gamzee would let anything happen if he could help it, what with how protective he was of the little nub-horned freak. Then Karkat found out that Gamzee had been lying to him, or just not telling him, or whatever, and that that lie had involved Gamzee planning to take his place as the next Grand Highblood.

"Have yuh seen portraits of teh Grand Highblood? G-Zee's almost an exact, damn fuckin' replica of teh creepy as hell bastuhd. Ah dun tink he wants tuh follow aftuh him but... Hell, you've fuckin' seen him when he blood rages. Yuh just haven't seen him at teh damn backlash aftuh he's actually killed. Yuh'd think twice about tis bein' uh choice. Yuh gottuh point though, kinuh fuckin' cruel o him to try and get back tuhgother with ya, when ya don't even got tose kinduh emotions fer him no more."

Karkat didn't respond for a second, merely stared at the floor for nearly five minutes, not even seeming to breath. And then, at last, he moved, right hand digging into his pocket. It was selfish, but he didn't want to think about any of it, just too fucking painful and stressing, He just wanted it all to shut the fuck up, to go away. Gog why couldn't things be quiet?

"I don't want to be alive"

And with that, he pulled the bottle of pills out from his pocket, and tipped it upside down into his mouth, and swallowed.

Oh.

Fucking.

Shit.

"WHA' TEH HELL!" Jarren was on his feet in an instance, he had just, what kind of pills... WHAT THE HELL. "DAMMIT KARKAT YA FUCKASSED NOOKSUCKING ASSHOLE!" and Jarren was running to the receptionist, creative cursing be damned, banging on the window, the woman he had just been bantering with earlier, looking up in shock at the male, "ANGIE! QUICK! TIS ASSFUCK OUT HERE JUST SWALLOWED A WHOLE TING OF FUCKIN' PILLS!"

_Fuck! Gamzee was gonna kill him!_

Karkat just watched from his seat, red eyes blank and seemingly dead as he waited very patiently for the effects to start, it'd take a while, he was sure, and with the way Jarren was screaming, the doctors would be rushing in here any second. Not that it bothered him, as long as he refused to let them help him, they weren't allowed to come near him. Patient Consent and all that bullshit. If someone couldn't, wouldn't, or was unable to answer the question 'do you need help?' in the medical world, it could be assumed they did. However, Karkat was able to answer, and he wasn't going to let them near him.

Three hours.

THREE FUCKING HOURS, and this red blooded, nub horned, crab faced, ASSHOLE WAS REFUSING FUCKING TREATMENT!

Jarren was absolutely livid, Angie, the receptionist, was at his side helping to keep him away as the doctors tried to talk to Karkat, tried to reason with him, or whatever the hell they did to crazy suicidal fuckers. Every minute that passed made the circulatory troll make him want to pull out his frisbee and kick the fucking hell out of the Cancer. Because every time his told the doctor's no, every time he told them to fuck off in particularly more colorful words, his fist clinched. Seriously, how the FUCK did he keep loosing to someone who was intent on giving up his own life? This was seriously fucked up. How could the male be such a badass fighter, but suicidal at the same time? Shit didn't make sense to the circulatory troll. Then again, there was a reason he was failing his psychology class.

There came a pause after the three hour mark, a sort of silence in the chaos, before with a thud, Jarren lifted his eyes to find Karkat sprawled out on the floor. He didn't know if he was relieved, or terrified as all hell. Oh fuck him sideways, if Karkat was dead, Jarren was moving to the other side of the fucking planet. But there was a flurry of movement as the doctors could finally do their damn jobs, and by the urgency of their actions, Jarren assumed the male was alive.

What happened next was a blur, shouted commands, movement, and suddenly Jarren and Angie were standing alone in the waiting room. "... better fuckin' call Gamzee."

Angie gave his arm a light squeeze, "I'll go get a nurse to check up on Sevsta for you."

"Tanks bitch."

"Dick," and she walked away to do as she said, and Jarren sighed and looked at his phone. Fuck, how many more times could his coolness crash in one night? With hesitation he flipped open his phone, paused over Gamzee's name in his contacts, before releasing a swear and snarl, and hitting call.

There was a pause as the phone rang, and rang, and rang. Oh mercifully god, maybe he was going to get lucky and it would go to voicemail!

Click, "Jarren?"

Fuck.

"Hey G-Zee, ah gottuh funny fuckin' story for ya."

"Not really in the motherfucking mood bro."

"Shit, okay, okay. It's not uh funny story. So ahm at teh hospital, alrigh? And K-Kat's here, and we was talkin' and ten he tried tuh commit suicide an teh doctuhs just took him away."

"..."

"G-Zee?"

The next thing Jarren was aware of, was a long series of beeps indicating the call had been disconnected. Oh christ in a pile of fucking cluckbeasts. He wondered if he had time to hide.


	45. Explaining the Truth

Karkat woke up only a few seconds after he had gone unconscious, his stomach burning, feeling like it was twisting around in itself. What... What had happened? He remembered sitting there, talking to Jarren about what had happened... right? That was what he had been doing, he was sure, he wasn't sure why he was talking to Jarren of all people, but he vaguely remembered Jarren being there. It was hard to think back. He remembered something about pills, and reached up, tugging on the shirt of one of the nurses and asking her what happened, and she looked at him with a confused look on her face, and told him he swallowed an entire bottle of Oxycodone. And then he had had a seizure because of it, and then something else, but he faded out, the world getting wiggly and strange looking for just a second before he passed out again.

A few minutes after that, in the midst of getting his stomach pumped clean of whatever hadn't been digested yet, his blood pressure dropped and his breathing slowed.

As it turns out, Jarren couldn't find a place to hide, and Angie was refusing to let him behind the counter. Damn woman. So it was in the waiting room, sitting back in the same damn chair he was before, trying to make himself look as small and insignificant as possible, when both of the double doors flew open with a loud bang. Jarren had been expecting that, what he didn't expect was the red and indigo blood dried claws and arms, and the terrifying as all hell look in the Capricorn's eyes. "Holy fuck G-Zee."

Okay, maybe he shouldn't have talked or said anything, because now those eyes were on him, and now those claws were grabbing hold of his coat and pulling him up and eye level with the Capricorn, and those fangs were bared in a snarl.

"What. Happened." That wasn't a question, it was a damn demand.

So yeah, Jarren would have felt a whole lot better about the situation if Gamzee was yelling at him, screaming or attacking him. But the too even voice, the perfectly enunciated words, and that look... fuck the bastard that brought the phrase 'if looks could kill' to the world. "Ah'll tell ya G-Zee, jus... could ya put me fuckin' down an sit fer uh second? They're workin on K-Kat now, so ya gottuh fuckin wait anyway."

Gamzee just gave him this look, before he released his hold and Jarren fell back, rather unceremoniously into his chair with a grunt, before the Capricorn stepped back and just stared at him. Didn't say anything, didn't move, just stood, and stared. Waiting, Jarren realized, for him to speak. So much for the request to sit, but at least he wasn't tearing apart the hospital trying to find the nub-horned little prick. So it was without the presence of any sort of fanfare, Jarren cleared his throat, and recalled everything that had happened in as much detail as he could, to the deadly silent Capricorn.

Thank god trolls were tougher than humans. That amount of oxycodone in a human's system for even just an hour would be enough to damage their organs enough to kill them within a few days without transplants. But trolls were not humans, and by nature they were much more resilient, most likely because they were a violent race. Even in modern times they were brutal and barbaric.

After they had managed to pump all of the medication out of his system, they hooked him up to an IV to help clear the stuff out of his blood as fast as possible so that his heart rate and blood pressure would refuse to normal. His heart was beating way too fast, and his blood pressure was way too damn low to keep up. They were considering using a ventilator, or maybe a breathing tube to help excess oxygen get into his blood, that way there'd be less of a chance of organ damage due to low oxygen.

Karkat was unconscious the entire time. The second time he fell asleep, he had stayed asleep, which was normal. Oxycodone tended to cause extreme drowsiness even when a correct amount was taken, it wasn't unusual for people who overdosed on it to remain asleep for up to five days or so, depending on their tolerance. The doctors were keeping a close eye on the troll, but they weren't too worried, at best, they expected him to wake up by morning.

When the doctor came in, thank god one Jarren was familiar with, to let them know that Karkat was stable, the circulatory troll was relieved, but felt unease when Gamzee just stood there after hearing the news... and continued to stand there as Jarren pulled the doc aside to talk to him about Gamzee going to Karkat's room. Naturally, given the Capricorn's appearance, the Doctor started to refuse at first, until Jarren pointed out that the tall male was the suicide patients moirail. Doc gave in, but only under the condition that the Capricorn wash up.

Gamzee, was eerily compliant, as Jarren explained that to see Karkat, he'd have to clean off the blood and... whatever fucking else he had on him. Without a word, he followed him and a nurse to an unused room, and Jarren waited outside while Gamzee scrubbed the blood and dirt the best he could from flesh and clothes. He had to wait for the dripping wet clothes to stop... well dripping, and his eyes were hardening again in irritation at how long this was taking. The indigo blood was starting to act more reproachful, impatient, and it took some coaxing before he would let the nurse look at his wounds and wrap them.

Finally, when Gamzee was damp instead of dripping, and his wounds were bandaged, they were allowed to go to Karkat's room. The nurse left him and the Capricorn alone outside of the door.

"Look man, ah don't know teh details of wha' happened, or what teh hell ya got goin' on. But ya should up an fuckin' tell him everyting alright?" he did NOT flinch, when Gamzee turned those expressionless eyes to him. Damn, it was just so weird seeing the male without that clown paint on his face. In all the sweeps he's known him, he'd only seen him like that twice before, and each time Gamzee had been a bit put off about it. But at the moment, he didn't even seem to care. "Uh... ah still haven't beat teh lit'le prick innuh fight, so uh repeat instance should wait until aftuh ah've kicked his ass." Go self-preservation. "Sevsta's room is just around teh corner, text if ya need anyting."

Gamzee didn't move until Jarren vanished around the corner, indigo eyes turning back to look at the door for a long moment. Until his bandaged claw rested on the handle and turned, the Capricorn slipping into the room in silence.

The first sound he became aware of, was that of the machine. The first sight, Karkat laying motionless, but breathing. The first smell and taste in the air, that of the cleaning solutions and the clear tasting musk that most hospitals had. The first feeling... nothing. He felt numb.

Time wasn't flowing very well for Gamzee at the moment. He didn't know how long he stood in the doorway, listening to the hiss of the machine, watching the slight rise and fall of the Cancer's chest. He just knew it was slightly darker outside when he stepped across the floor to the side of the male's bed, knew that whatever anger he had had, was dim and gone for now, and felt that part of this...

Was his fault.

Gamzee sat cross-legged on the floor, if he was any shorter, then he wouldn't even be able to see over the lip of the tall hospital bed, but as it was, his eyes could just look over the edge of the mattress. He sat there, the sounds of machines, of ticking clocks, of occasional foot steps, fading to the background, before the Capricorn bowed his head, and slid his hands over his face, forming a physical mask against the torrent that rocked against him.

Why had it been so fucking hard to be honest? To tell Karkat what he intended to do. Because he was ashamed of it? Because he knew that telling him would be admitting that he couldn't do anything about it? Because he didn't want to loose the Cancer, not after he finally had him back?

A snarl bared itself on his lips, as the first wet drop of indigo tinted warmth, fell from the corner of his eyes. A shit lot of good that had done, what a surprise, he fucked something else up. Why? Why the fuck had he been born with that bastards blood? What was he fucking destined, to kill his friends, the ones he loved? Why had he and Karkat even become friends to begin with?

He was shaking as that memory came to him, as more salty liquid began to fall from the corner of his eyes behind those hands that were playing substitute to his paint, to his mask. He recalled everything, the first look of bewilderment on the male's face when he hadn't been put off by being called a moron. The first time Karkat had actually, genuinely laughed with him, the first time the male was honest, the first time he had trusted Gamzee enough to show his blood color (another accident, but still)... the look on Karkat's face when he had called him his best friend for the first time.

Then the recent memories, where Karkat had at first looked at him as a stranger, but slowly that familiar feeling had been coming back. Of, how not even being aware of it, the Cancer had spoke to him like he used to, comforted and supported him in his own way. Tolerated him, and in the end, even accepted him back.

What the fuck had he done for Karkat?

What had his useless motherfucking self done to help the Cancer?

In the silence of that hospital room, Gamzee stayed on the floor by Karkat's sighed, lost in thoughts of guilt, and the memories that swarmed there.

. . .

Trying to argue with a terrifying, nightmarish version of yourself was normally already pretty hard.

Trying to argue with a terrifying, nightmarish version of yourself while half tripping out on narcotics was a lot fucking harder.

"Oh that was fun! Almost made it! I mean, it was kinda stupid taking that thing in the middle of a hospital, should have moved to the street or something! Would have been nice and quick with the cold to numb you"

That mouth opened, a bloody tongue running across teeth so white that it seemed almost blinding to look at them, leaving red streaks all over that monster's mouth, more blood dripping down from it's lips and empty eye sockets. "At least this is fun, so unlike you to be thinking about pancakes and changing the colors of the walls. Are you sure you hate this color? You sure are thinking about it a lot, wonder what THAT could mean!"

The hallucination was referring to the colors of the walls, plastered indigo, which Karkat was sure had been done to piss him off, and it worked, now if only they'd stop randomly sprouting things like bikes and pancakes and shit.

"Don't think it really matters what they mean anyway. Hey, when we wake up, you should see what floor we're on, if it's high enough, you could always jump~! Just like flying, except for the splat at the end!"

It began to laugh, like it had just told the funniest joke in the world. Karkat stayed curled up in that corner of his mind, trying to block it's voice out and failing completely, even with his hands squashing his ears against his head, a fleshly layer against sound. But it was a useless gesture, the voice was internal, after all, not external, you can't block out your own thoughts, no matter how hard you try.

Karkat didn't know what to do, he was trapped in a mental room with his own, suicidal thoughts, and he couldn't make them go away. Not to mention every few minutes or so he'd slip into a nightmare, slowly loosing it more and more as that fucking THING kept responding to whatever he thought, teasing and taunting, making him hate it and hate himself all the more. How could someone even have a mental manifestation of what they hated about themselves? Like it wasn't a part of them? He knew, deep down, the thing was only repeating what he was thinking, but fuck, he didn't want to face it.

Easier to think it was just some form of insanity.

Hours had passed in the waking world, with Karkat not moving or becoming unstable at all, still not waking up. But as time crawled on, small things began to happen, a finger twitching here from a movement in a dream, a slight frown growing over his face at one point before being replaced by the deceptively peaceful mask of sleep.

After Gamzee had calmed down, after the moment where clear thoughts entered and exited his mind... they came back. Those little voice, those little screams, and fuck why didn't a hospital that catered to humans and trolls have any slime nearby? The Capricorn pulled his hand free from his face, brushing away the clear indigo tinted liquid from his cheeks with a small growl. Because they were beginning to laugh, and in Gamzee's mind, the walls were starting to peel, and through their cracks, gnarled hands were beginning to reach out, claws all pointing towards Karkat, and from multiple lacerations on all of those appendages, a red blood began to drip, too vibrant to be the red of a human.

And Gamzee just watched, face expressionless, lips a thin line.

Then that shadow appeared, the shape like a familiar portrait he had once seen. A picture from his memory, that had rushed over the sopor haze he had had when he had seen it, and caused what sanity was left to escape him. When he was younger, he had always thought it was just a mental recreation of him, of his ancestor. A sweep ago he had gotten close enough to see beyond the white paint that covered the otherwise entirely black form. He had avoided it ever since. But every once in a while, when shit was so bad that he felt motherfucking lost, it came back.

And currently, it was standing over Karkat's bed, black claws extending, and tracing along the Cancer's jaw, and Gamzee felt the flame in his gut, felt that rage boiling under his flesh, itching to escape, to pour free. His mind screaming at it to back the fuck AWAY! But he couldn't move, because that shadow terrified him, angered him, and was all too fucking familiar. When a growl came from his throat unbidden, it's invisible eyes looked up at him, a slight movement of the paint hinting that it was smiling, before it backed away to the corner, the reaching red blooded hand grasping around it's shape, before with it's body stilled, it's head turned completely around, so that it's painted face was no longer visible.

Then Karkat's twitching and movements began to register in his think pan, and all those pretty little thoughts became blurred, as indigo eyes froze, focused on every movement the Cancer now made.

A few more seconds lingered by in absolute silence and stillness, before Karkat finally grimaced, letting out a low grown as he brought one hand up to his head, covering his eyes as he tried to open them, the lights of the ceiling blinding him after being asleep for so long and being so unused to it. He swallowed a bad taste in his mouth, the taste of plastic and bile, and for a second, he just lay there, hand covering his eyes, as he recalled all that had happened, his head pounding and his stomach still hurting like a fucking bitch. Completely unaware that he was not alone in the room.

Gamze was silent, just watching, the illusions surrounding his mind fading, morphing, as Karkat came to. He didn't know what time it was, how long he had been in the room with the Cancer, didn't fucking care. He was awake now, fucking awake. So those screams of death, those whispers on how many ways he could kill someone with the equipment in this room could kindly shut the fuck up, he had better shit to do. He swallowed uncertainty and hesitation and resistance all fighting for dominance before...

"... Karkat?"

He heard a garbled voice more to his left, it sounded weird, like he was hearing it from under water. His head was pounding, and even thinking about trying to sit up made him feel dizzy and disoriented. So he settled with turning his head to the side, fingers parting to let a red eyed gaze blink a few times in the light, before focusing on the highblood.

And becoming hostile.

Yep, that was Karkat's 'You are in so much deep fucking shit right now' look. Gamzee rarely had ever seen that look directed at him, and the few times he did, made him feel like a wriggler again, being scolded by his rarely present lusus. So from his spot cross-legged on the ground, he did probably the first smartest thing that day... or was it the next day now? Either way. The Capricorn simply kept his mouth shut, and waited.

That fucking bastard just sat there and stared at him like Karkat hadn't just learned that he planned to grow up and be a psycho fucking murderer however long ago that thing that didn't stop being a thing that did happen had occurred. His lips pulled back, revealing those little, blade like teeth in a snarl. "Get out"

They all started to scream at once. The shadow in the corner, twitched and distorted for a moment, and Gamzee flinched. But he didn't move, blinked silently, before, "No." and he winced slightly as the screaming got louder, and he raised a hand up to press the clawed appendage to his temple, palm resting against one side of his face as each greedy gnarled hand from the wall, seemed to sprout fanged lips from their palms. "Not until I motherfucking tell you why."

Karkat really didn't want to hear it, he just wanted him to go away. So he merely snarled, head pounding even worse now as his levels of rage began to ascend rapidly. But he stayed quiet, because part of him did want an explanation.

Gamzee parted his lips to start, but faltered half way through saying the first word. Brows knit together, as the hand that had been on his face, fell into his lap. He hesitated, before deciding on starting with what was currently going on. what he was currently-, "I guess I'lll fucking start with what I got my see going on about now. I'm not in the know what the colors of the walls are, Karkat, because right now all I fucking see are cracks and holes with a bunch of motherfuckers bony hands reaching out of it, bleeding. There's screaming, so many voices getting serious shrieks going. But there are no bodies to the scream, no lungs or speak boxes for them be produced" and he paused, eyes skimming over those images, resting on the dark thing in the corner that Karkat couldn't see, "And there's this shadow motherfucker getting his chill on in the corner. My think pan used to process him as this figment, a recreated specter of the Grand Highblood. Then I got my see on his face." Gamzee hesitated, bringing one claw thoughtfully to his cheek, eyes narrowed as he seemed to be struggling to recall the memory before, "Motherfucker looked like me."

He looked back to Karkat then, "Though you don't got the memories to back up my speak words, I've seen these motherfucking images since I was a wriggler. They haven't made me get chills under my skin since my second wriggling day though. But still, hard to get a fucking chill going, and not get the urge to try and recreate those thought pictures, when you see them all night and in Z land. Which is why one day I tried some of my motherfucking miracle pies." A small smile pulled at unpainted lips then, " One of the best, wishharmzical days of my life brother. Voices became mush, and the images took sweet nap times. But any time I tried to get off the green substance, shit would come back at twice as hard, twice as gumption. When my eyes changed, shit started to get really motherfucking real," and for a moment Gamzee paused, looking to Karkat, seeing if he needed to clarify anything or if it was alright to continue.

Karkat's scowl dropped away, leaving a blank look on his face as he merely listened, biting on his tongue so hard that he could taste a few drops of his blood in his mouth, but he ignored it, just keeping silent, and listening, his face damn near unreadable.

When he was met with silence, Gamzee licked dried lips and closed his eyes briefly to refocus his thoughts, head tilting the side as if he seemed to be processing something, before he spoke again, "Then the voices started to get louder, more nudge like and greedy about grabbing my attention. Had to eat more of the miracle pies to keep that shit hush and shush. Then the... the motherfucking urges to kill started," and he opened his eyes to meet vibrant red, before glancing rather quickly away, hand rising to rub at the back of his neck. "I was expecting that shit, they always said it would come, especially for highblood's but Karkat..." he swallowed, "It's not the kind of urge when you get thirsty so you drink some sweet elixir and shit gets better. It invades your think pan, brother. Fills every fucking corner with the thought, itches under your skin shield, chokes you and makes everything seem so fucking loud. And when you actually do it," he still wasn't looking at Karkat, fingers wrapping into a fist at the hair at the base of his neck, "Everything gets real nice and quiet. But like a tumor, shit always comes back."

"When I left, I thought I was doing all of you motherfuckers a favor. Met Jarren, and that circular minded bro introduced me to Valus and Tansis, they explained to me the urges, about why I have that fucking instinct... and why it was wicked strong for me. My highblooded sisters were the ones who got me in agreement to occupy the long vacant spot of my motherfucking ancestor," finally he looked back to Karkat, indigo eyes guarded, "It wasn't any think pan washing or other kind of shit like that. I made that decision after I had a rage fit so fucking intense. The room looked like... there was so many motherfucking colors Karkat, and for the first time, I couldn't fucking remember what I up and did. Still can't get my pan around what exactly occurred. Valus told me it'd keep getting worse as I got my age growing, that eventually I'd go into a rage, and never come back. Be motherfucking stuck... it's what happened to him... and I almost look exactly like-" he cut off a small growl coming from his throat, as he leaned back until the back of his head was against the wall.

"If I could get a red-big red sign and put it in my rage path, I would. But I just feel the noise get stronger and stronger with each sweep. That female human," he paused gritting his fangs, "Karkat, I hadn't even got fucking started. I hate it, I MOTHERFUCKING HATE IT!" it was the only time his voice had rose during the entire conversation, and he closed his eyes taking a sharp inhale of air, holding it, before letting out a slow breath. A long silence came from him then, before his lids slid back open to Karkat, and small smile pulled at his lips, "Gotta have some motherfucking hope though, right? I've seen some crazy shit. Though, can't say if all of that shit was in my mind or not," he laughed a little at that, "I just gotta keep thinking, maybe if I fucking hold back a little longer, maybe if I keep resisting, I'll get a motherfucking miracle."

Karkat didn't answer right away, merely kept staring with that unreadable look on his face as a hundred, no, a thousand different thoughts began to hurl themselves right into his sludge of a thought-fucked think pan. why did this shit have to be so hard? He sat up, mouth set in a straight, hard line as the world swam around him, and he covered his face with both hands, leaning forward on his elbows.

"Fuck... I just need some time to think about this."

"Need a motherfucker to leave you be then?" Gamzee didn't want to leave. Fuck, after admitting all of that, and with what Karkat had almost done to himself, he just wanted to stay glued to his little spot on the floor to make sure the Cancer would be alright. That he wouldn't have another breakdown. But with his own pan still in it's current state...

"I need to think about this fucking alone"

The Capricorn blinked, eyes turning downcast for a moment, before he stood, "Alright..." Then he turned towards the door, hesitated just for a moment, before slipping out through the door, and closing it with a soft click. In the hallway, his back slumped against what was the too white wall, but all Gamzee could see was gore, and he closed his eyes.

"Alright."


	46. Thinking about Things

What I do when I really should be working on homework XD

You gais, thank you all so much for your lovely reviews and words of encouragement. If the less than sign on my keyboard would actually show up on fanfiction, you'd all get a little heart.

also it is incredibly amusing how many people are looking forward to Gamzee killing the fuck out of Cee XD

_-Eren S. _

* * *

><p>"You were completely inconsolable when I found you. You fucking bit me and growed and clawed like some kind of wild animal"<p>

He remembered standing in that dark building, on all fours for balance as he watched the two beings walk through the big, seemingly empty of life building. It was one of the buildings that had been abandoned by trolls and humans alike long ago, a warehouse. He remembered shaking ever so slightly in rage as he saw two strange trolls enter his 'hive'. A female with curled horns and messy hair, and a male with four smaller horns, and multi-colored eyes, one blue, one red. They looked small, around his own age at the time, a mere six sweeps old, but he didn't care. He just wanted them gone. He watched as they inspected his living space, feeling his anger rise and rise, what were they doing here? They had to leave, fucking now!

He remembered loosing his temper as the female had gone near the rusted, downed plane he had gutted and been using as a sleeping area. He remembered running across the bars that held up the roof, the male looking up and spotting him at the last second, but not fast enough to stop him when he jumped down and tackled the girl away from what he considered his. Screaming like a crazed animal the entire time. He remembered biting down hard into her arm, drawing rust colored blood, and then getting knocked off her by a wave of nothing, probably Sollux's psionic abilities now that he thought about it.

"No matter what we did we couldn't get you to calm down, we had to make a fucking cage and trap you just to get you to hold still, but you kept screaming and raging. I thought you were going to give yourself a heart attack"

He remembered being trapped by metal, the taste of rust and mustard blood in his mouth, him spitting it out and continuing to screech, ordering them to get the fuck out of his hive, leave him alone, go away go away go away.

"You were like that for three days. You would scream and struggle util you passed out from exhaustion, and just start all over again when you woke up, and no matter what we did or said you just growled and wailed. It wasn't until the forth night that anything changed"

He remembered that a little less clearly, he was sitting down, calmly in the cage while the other two took a rare chance to sleep. Tears ran down his eyes, he wasn't sure why, reddening eyes wide as images he hated danced across his vision, feelings that tormented him all his waking hours. The feeling of his skin being sliced from his flesh, of being stabbed, having his bones broken and rehealed and then broken again in more places just for fun, the feeling of being taken each and every fucking night for that period of his life and tormented like that.

"You were just sitting there bawling, and then you turned to me and looked all confused"

. . . There was nothing here, he didn't remember talking to Sollux.

"and you said my name like it was a question, and just stared at me. And then you started screaming, but it was different this time. Before it had been out of anger, but now, it sounded like you were getting killed, and you were terrified. Aradia had to let you out of the cage because you broke your fingers punching the walls. You didn't run out though, you just stopped, and then you didn't talk or move for two weeks"

He remembered that, the feeling of everything just leaving, the thoughts, the memories, the constant feeling of something writhing under his skin, the feeling of having to claw it out or it would force him back to that dark, blood colored place. He just felt... empty.

"We took you to my hive and Aradia fucking left you with me, and it was like dealing with a robot, you didn't eat unless told to, didn't move unless told to, didn't speak, didn't fucking sleep. I thought you had damaged your brain, made yourself a fucking vegetable. And then at the end of that new hell, you finally fucking seemed to snap out of it, with no recollection of anything. You didn't know who you were, or who I was, or where you were, or what had happened. Aradia came over, and told me that whatever you had gone through, had damaged you so badly that the only way to get over it at the time was for you to lock up your own memories, everything, maybe permanently. We weren't sure"

He remembered waking up and just staring, being confused. Where was he? What was going on? Who was that troll with the funny eyes over there?

"You wouldn't sleep, the first night, you woke up screaming about nightmares and Aradia had to calm your ass down. She asked what happened, you started crying and shook your head. The next night, though, you told her that things were trying to eat you, that hands had been coming out of faces and grabbing at you, that a monster with faces all over its body was stalking you and it wanted to rip you apart. Then you stopped, Aradia asked you if you were okay, and you said 'I don't want the white eyes to find me'"

He remembered that, clinging to the rust blooded girl as he sobbed, those white eyes burning in his mind, laughing as they searched for him, ripping apart houses and woods for their little lost toy. He had forgotten the eyes, the faces though, he remembered them. Anguished, angry faces of vibrant colors, stitched along a wall of flesh, fingers and hands and arms protruding from those open mouths, distorted, twisted, dead, but alive. The wall of flesh quivered, moving, slithering, surrounding him, suffocating him, and then those white eyes came out of the only spot left, the only spot not covered by writhing faces, begging to die, begging him to kill them, and then begging him to kill himself. If you die, she can't get you, the white eyes can't find you.

"After that, you stopped sleeping, but you started to get a little better, you could remember some things, like your name, sometimes you lapsed and forgot and I had to remind you, it took a few times, but it started to stick. I know that sometimes I had to just leave, or I yelled at you, or told you to get out. It was like talking to a fucking wriggler and sometimes I just couldn't handle it, because of either irritation or stress or anger that any of this fucking happened"

He took in a breath, seeming to pause at the end of the phone line, calming himself down before he continued.

"One time I freaked out a little worse than usual. You passed out and woke up screaming again, and I just snapped and forced you to get out of my hive. I said I was fucking sick of taking care of you when it wasn't my job, and then I shut the door. I don't know how long you stared at the door before you wandered off. I remember I opened it hours later, freaking out when I realized you had actually left. I looked for hours, I really did. I remember panicking the whole time, thinking someone must have found you, like some random high blood or something, and killed you. I remembered thinking that whatever had done that to you had found you again and finished the job. I looked for hours, and when I finally found you, you were on top of a twenty story building. Terezi was there, she had seen you, and she was trying to convince you not to jump. I don't know what she said, but you listened and stepped down. She brought you back to my house and I explained what happened, and then she helped me try and get you back to normal. When I asked you why you were going to jump. You just told me that the nightmares were always screaming at you to kill yourself, one way or another, and they were louder this time"

Another pause.

"I realized that you were honestly trying to get better, and it helped a little to know that, and you did start to get better after that, Terezi worked like a fucking miracle sent down from heaven on you and eventually you were able to actually go out and do things on your own without me having to worry every fucking second about you. That led to you eventually moving into a new hive by yourself, and from there on, you know the story"

Terezi, He remembered her, his ex-matesprit, how well they seemed to get along even when it seemed like they were fighting. It brought a small pang back when he remembered finding out she cheated on him and had gotten a new matesprit, while continuing to string him along. And then even after that continued to act like they were still friends until he made it painfully clear he wanted her to leave him the fuck alone. The worst part about the whole thing was that Karkat wasn't sure it even had been a matespritship, sometimes the feelings bordered kismeisis and that was damn confusing, it had felt more natural as matesprits, but he could never be too sure. Maybe he had been thinking matesprit and she was thinking kismeisis? It was pointless to figure it out now, that had all come and gone already.

"...Thanks... that really clears up a lot, Sollux" Karkat muttered into the phone, his voice a little drained from emotion as he hung up, swallowing the lump in his throat painfully. He put his phone back on the stand next to the hospital bed, feeling numb and cold as his mind replayed the information, and those uncovered memories. He could remember them, and not just in the way that he had been told, additional information, the knowledge that things had been far more unpleasant than just the screaming and kicking and biting. The actual, honest to gog memory. He wasn't sure why this was, he remembered back when Gamzee told him that they had once been moirails and he had asked the other male to go over whatever he could remember about Karkat. None of that had brought back actual memories. It felt right and slid into place, but it didn't recall anything. Did that mean the further back he went, the less he'd be able to recall? Or maybe that anything beyond that event that made him this way was unreachable until he remembered that specific event?

It had been a few hours since Gamzee left his hospital room. One might be expecting him to be trying to figure out that situation, and the thing was that he was trying. In a more indirect way.

He felt like his memories would be able to tell him if Gamzee was telling the truth or not, he wanted to believe his moirail, he really did. But he didn't want to fall into a destructive pattern again and set himself up for pain. He didn't want to pursue this quadrant if it would end up in failure. If Gamzee was telling the truth, then it seemed inevitable, but he only had those words to base his choice off of, he didn't want to just give up. But if it was going to end in him going insane either way and attempting to kill those near him, Karkat felt it better for both of them to stop being friends.

But like hell he would give up if he felt there was at all a chance he could stop that from happening. He felt like he might be able to find that chance in the past, and use it now.

He wasn't sure what to do.

A few more hours passed, and Karkat had realized something.

His nightmares had gotten worse recently, ever since he came to the college, and especially when he started hanging out with Gamzee again.

Did that mean that, maybe, he was crawling closer towards breaking that barrier that kept him from remembering? Was he right at the front door of that event that made him loose all of that? He was bringing things from his past back in, and that wall he had created so long ago was starting to grow old and crumble, being beaten from both sides now. He could almost imagine it, a once huge, seemingly indestructible thing, now much smaller. He had been slowly chipping at it and chipping at it and managed to start the beginnings of a hole, and on the other side, he could imagine Sollux, Gamzee, Nepeta, Tavros, Equius, working on that side as well. Why not try and meet in the middle?

He would let himself consider this for the rest of the day, contemplate it, and roll it over in his mind. He couldn't let himself just forgive Gamzee like that, it was a situation that had to be carefully thought about. All day, until he was allowed to leave the hospital, and even after that, randomly wandering the streets near the dorms, lost in thought (with a pair of sunglasses on his face to hide his flame colored eyes) as he switched back and forth. Continue this seemingly dangerous moiraility that may get you killed and was already confusing the hell out of you considering the fact you aren't even sure you may be all that pale for Gamzee, or let it drop and get on with your life?

He would have loved to be able to go back to his dorm room and be able to think in peace, without the noise of the machines in the hospital around him, or the screeching of cars and humans and trolls alike chattering away about whatever the hell it was they were talking about. But there was still a giant hole in his wall between his room and Gamzee's, and he wasn't sure if Gamzee would be in his dorm room or not. He didn't want to risk a run-in until he had completely made up his mind. At some point he wasn't sure he had a choice. Moiraility was the only one of the four quadrants that was not based on personal preference, to a degree, you could pick your matesprit, and you could pick your kismeisis, hell, even your auspictice, Moirails? No choice. Moirails were naturally drawn to each other; the moirail was always going to be drawn towards keeping their diamond partner under control, even if they never met them before, even if one had forgotten the other. It was determined by fate for a reason, because it wasn't the kind of thing that should be left to trolls to control, who were constantly changing their minds, it was better left as a thing that no one had control over. Psychologists for years had been trying to figure it out, and failed to do so, instead thinking it may have something to do with certain genetic strains in a DNA code.

He thought back to Nepeta and Equius, the only other moirail pair he could think of when it came to a low blood and a high blood. Nepeta was cat obsessed, lived in a fucking cave, and ate wild animals to survive. She liked to ship relationships in all four quadrants, and was a kind hearted person who liked to talk and make others feel better. Equius was a bigoted high blood asshole who was obsessed with strength and muscle-beasts, and sweats a lot. There was no way in hell these two would even consider talking to each other if they weren't moirails. They got into their share of fights, and their interests clashed at nearly every turn. Equius was always bugging Nepeta to be more refined, Nepeta was always telling him to relax and enjoy himself. And yet they were always near each other, and no matter what fight they got into, they seemed to just easily smooth it over and continue on. They protected each other fiercely. Equius was incredibly careful with Nepeta when around other high bloods, even breaking his personal code of respecting those higher than him when he felt she was in danger. Nepeta verbally berated anyone who even thought about turning on Equius, and she wasn't a half bad fighter for her size.

In a way, it wasn't that different from Karkat's situation with Gamzee. Fuck him sideways he still felt the need to go make sure Gamzee was okay and apologize for freaking out so badly even though he felt that he had reacted accordingly to the situation, all things considered. Gog he felt like such a fucking wriggler-brained pushover. He had every legitimate reason to be pissed off, and he was, but it kept trying to worm away into guilt. Uggggghhhhh sometimes he hated himself more than normally.

So this was the run of Karkat's thoughts and emotions as he wandered about at random. One might think he'd be a little more concerned with the fact that he had attempted suicide not that long ago. He still couldn't really believe the hospital had just let him go after what apparently happened, but then again, they tended to not care as much about trolls as humans. That had actually been the whole reason he got a hold of Sollux, well, Sollux got a hold of him. Apparently the mustard blood had heard from someone that he tried to commit suicide, or maybe his psychic moirail told him, and royally flipped the fuck out on Karkat over the phone, which Karkat couldn't deny he deserved it.

They both ended up apologizing to eachother in their own, awkwardly worded ways, and Karkat had explained the situation (some parts, others he kept to himself) to some degree, seeking advice, and asking Sollux how he had found him three sweeps ago, which led to all of this now.


	47. At the club

The engine revved, sliding within a hairs length of two cars as the motorcycle weaved dangerously between them, steady as the two wheeled device straightened up, before the roar of the motor suddenly faded, to pick up again as a sharp turn was taken. Neon lights danced brush lines of electric art over buildings, bathing the walls in their sharp colors in the night district of the city. Bathing the cyclist in a place that seemed like another world. Each building had a heavy bass coming from their open doors, each door held steady streams of individuals coming and going. The dark alley ways felt dangerous, the air felt static-alive, it was a street that one got a feeling that anything could happen. But to Gamzee, it all felt like a blur.

His movements were robotic, as he sped up, weaving through three more sets of cars, hardly looking at the road as he sought a particular club, a particular name. Until indigo eyes found it.

Heat & Clockwork.

Everything about this building, from it's neon lights, to it's outside decorations and chairs, was soaked in reds and golds. Behind the sign was the club's logo, two gears, one cracked, one still operational, flashed and rotated. Like the other clubs, people trickled in and out, but at this one... The energy level felt cranked to the max, the bass was so low that one could feel their heart beat reset to match it's tone, and despite himself, the Capricorn felt his body relax just slightly, as he pulled into an empty spot at the front of the building, specifically for motorcycles. Once the kick stand was up, and the motor killed, Gamzee leaned back comfortably on Miss Mirth, pulling out his phone and sending a quick text to Tavros to let him know he was there. Then, he simply waited, watching as human and troll alike paid patronage to the club, head tilting and offering a smile to a few stranger who cast a curious glance.

The past day and a half, Gamzee's mind had been set on reboot. Ever since leaving Karkat's hospital room, he had hardly said a word to anyone. That morning he had gone straight back to his dorm, buried himself in slime pies, and curled up for a nice nap on the floor. It was there that Valus had found him, and predictably, scolded him like a mothergrub. But he had smiled at her, apologized for the arm, and asked if they could go get something to eat, because he had serious munchies. The rest of the day was spent in silence. When someone talked to him, he'd look at them and smile, but wouldn't verbally respond, just after a moment of watching them he'd turn back to whatever he had been looking at. Then that night, he didn't sleep, and was only spurred into movement when Tavros had texted him at 8am to make sure he was still coming to the club.

Gamzee had been tempted to decline, but the Summoner had seemed to be looking forward to it... and maybe it's what he needed. To for once stop trying to think about things through that sopor haze, and go loose himself in music, drink, and the company of a friend. So which was brought him here now, sitting on his bike, as Tavros wheeled out of the club towards him with a smile.

"Hey Gamzee! Nice... wheels."

"Thanks Tav, same to you bro," and the Taurus joined him in an awkward laugh, as Gamzee swung off of his bike, and stepped to the curb, following close behind the Summoner as he led the way into the club.

After the entry fee was paid, they stepped onto the main floor and Gamzee's eyes went wide for a moment. Inside, the heavy beat of the music surrounded you, filling your ear holes and making the very air shake. The lights flashing, swirling, rising, made the crowd on the dance floor seem like one singular, moving mass as they moved to the beat with full abandon. Thanks to either just a free spirit, or the aid of a drink no doubt. To one side was a bar, the other, a wall of old arcade games, and at what extra space was left, tables, booths and chairs galore. Not bad for a two story club.

Turns out, coming had been a wise choice. Gamzee could already feel his mind becoming absorbed in the now, and a genuine smile coming across his face, that grew even more, as he listened to Tavros tell him about the club. The lights, and kind of music they used, the turntable, then a bit about some of the people... even though he had to shout to be heard above the music and crowd.

"Louis and Telkin are our, uh, main bartenders. We have three... bouncers, and a few waiters and... waitresses of course. Dave and I work up in the, DJ Boot up on the second story. We can see all of th-... Gamzee?" Tavros wheeled his chair around, confusion on his brows as the extremely tall Capricorn was no where in sight. "Oh darn."

"So this where the miracles happen?"

"Woah! What the fuck man?" Dave, the Turntech God, Strider, had been in his own zone. Hands moving like liquid silk over the turntables spread and ample before him. The crowd tonight was a good one, all of them having been effortlessly converted, naturally, to his tempo, his beats. All of them in but a few bass thumps had become his subjects, they growing more devoted with each song change. So naturally being the super natural being of music he was, had been laying blessings all over the floor for them to wallow in and send prayers of thanks.

Until that is, Dave's kingdom had been invaded by an excessively tall troll with clown paint on his face.

"Look I get that I'm awesome beyond words, and that all my loyal subjects wish to see the god-like knight that lights fires in their world, but seriously, booth world's off limits. Scram." the human blinked silently behind his shades, waiting for his words to apparently register, but the clown troll didn't seem to even be listening to him.

"What system do you've got all crazy hooked up to make the amps slam such heavy base beasts?"

Dave blinked, face containing it's natural stoicism, as he watched the troll take two steps forward, and peer at the tower of his equipment. So what? This guy was a music man himself? Yeah, alright... then the troll was raising a hand as if he intended to touch.

"Hey! No touching." the troll listened, but was still smiling like a drugged idiot and looking at him expectantly. So with a shrug, because Strider's didn't sigh, Dave decided he would school the freaky looking male on how he ruled his world. "Okay troll man, just stand there real still like, and try to pay attention. It may be hard for you to comprehend the serious shit I run here, but I'll try to translate it into words your mind will be able to define."

. . .

Such an incredibly, stupidly long ride, Tavros gave fucking horrendous directions.

Karkat had finally managed to make up his mind about this whole, stupid situation he had gotten his wriggler-fucked ass into. But when he had gone to go find the Capricorn, he couldn't find him. He had asked a few questions before Nepeta explained that he had gone to the club. Oh yeah, Gamzee had asked him if he wanted to go and fuck now he felt guilty. He asked if she knew where it was, and said no, but she did call Tavros and ask him for directions, and then even offered to drive Karkat there since it was in town, putting both her number, Equius', and Tavros' on his phone just in case. Apparently she had to drive Equius around a lot because he was too STRONG for driving, the steering wheel would always get crushed in his hands, no matter how careful he tried to be.

They got lost here and there, but at last they managed to find the fucking thing, 'Heat And Clockwork'.

"Thanks for driving me here, you sure you don't want to come in?"

"It's no purr-oblem Karkitty! And yeah, I get headaches from all the loud mew-sic!" Nepeta responded, a bright smile on her face as she waved goodbye to the cancer, and drove off, the light green of her car shimmering against the neon lights as it rolled around a corner and finally vanished.

Karkat sighed, turning around and staring at the massive sign before him, coal colored eyes seeming very unamused with this situation. He glanced around, spotting Gamzee's motorcycle not that far away, 'Miss Mirth' or whatever the fuck he named it, or at least he hoped that was Gamzee's motorcycle, they all looked the same to him.

So, gathering up his self control, and with a flat look on his face, he entered the club, regretting this decision almost as soon as he walked through the door, greeted by loud music, flashing lights, and people in revealing, brightly colored clothing.

"Oh, Gamzee! There you are."

The Capricorn looked up from the turntable, from where Dave was (condescendingly) telling him how they manually adjusted, bass, treble, things like that, to see Tavros rolling in from a basket elevator in the back that he just remembered mentioning the club owners had put in for him.

"'Sup Tav, clown guy with you?"

"Yeah, uh, sorry about that Dave," the Taurus spoke casting an irritated glare in Gamzee's direction, though it was accompanied with a smile as well.

"Sorry about that Tavbro, my mind just got real curious about the muscles that pulled the bones to these fires."

"So you're the rapper, huh? Dave Strider, welcome to my domain. I loan it out to the guy with the rack on occasion. Now not that this hasn't been fun, but get out. I got a world to rule," and with no further words than that, he turned back to his table, apparently dismissing them. Tavros looked to Gamzee and shrugged, keeping that smile, as he motioned the Capricorn over so they could let the human do his thing in peace.

"I've gotta go get ready to start my own set soon. Dave's breaks coming up. So uh, I talked to the bartender, and she said she'll give you... you know, a discount on drinks and stuff."

"Wicked, you're the best Tav. Guess I'll navigate downwards so my auditory ducts prepared to listen to you set fire to the crowd like a badass arsonist."

"Um, wicked.. I think." They shared a laugh at that, before Gamzee exited the booth, climbing down the stairs watching the crowd as he did so. The way they moved, the way the practically breathed in unison. It was a place one could forget who they were, what had happened, and just get lost for a while. Perfect. Gamzee jumped down the last two steps, began to weave through the crowd towards the bar.

Karkat managed to summon up enough courage to push his way through the dancing crowds to the other side of the room where the DJ booth was. In a bit more foul of a mood than before considering he wasn't sure if he just got groped when making his way through the crowd or if it had simply been a stray hand. Either way - ew.

But Gamzee wasn't on this side either, however, he did see Tavros up in the DJ booth, and without a single care as to whether or not he was allowed in there, he got right the fuck up there, and tapped on the larger horned troll's shoulder. "Tavros, is Gamzee here?"

Tavros jumped slightly, before looking up at Karkat with an awkward smile, "Oh! Hey Karkat."

Dave looked over his shoulder, "Seriously Tav, another one?"

The Taurus blushed just slightly and mumbled out an apology, before looking back to the Cancer, "Yeah, he's here. I think he uh, went down to get a drink."

Karkat resisted the urge to tell the human to get off his high horse and fuck right off, and just turned his attention to Tavros instead, nodding. "Thanks" he responded simply, turning, and leaving the booth just as promptly as he had entered.

As soon as the Cancer left, Dave turned to the brown blooded troll, "Tav, bro, you and I need to have a talk about the kind of trolls you hang out with. Seriously, as completely and utterly shocking as it may seem, there is a limit to irony."

In the meantime, down at the bar, Gamzee was finishing off a frosty beverage, with a name he couldn't pronounce, and having small talk with one of the waiters, a scrawny looking male that he had found out to be Louis. They chatted for a brief amount of time, before the Capricorn found himself growing a tad bit bored, though it was fairly easy to distract himself with the flashing lights. Man, they were just so fucking beautiful, flickering and dancing all over the place. When, Louis left to go take care of another customer, Gamzee glanced around the club, indigo eyes finding one of the old arcade machines.

Tempting him with some flickering lights of it's own. Hell, why not? He was sure had a few quarters in... at least one of his pockets. So hopping down from the bar stool, he headed began to navigate to the other side of the room.

Oh fucking hell Gamzee wasn't here either. Karkat scanned the counters, seeing no one that looked even similar to his moirail. He wondered if Tavros lied to him, which was unlikely, or if Gamzee got distracted by the fucking dancing and mingled himself into the crowd, which was pretty damn possible. But if he was in that fucking mass of dancing flesh Karkat was not going to go in after him, no way in a fiery, pain consuming hell.

Fuck it, he'd wait at the bar until he saw the other troll again, he was not going to run around this fucking club and get groped again, he might hit someone and get kicked out, and then where would he be? Well out of this place for one, which actually seemed pretty nice.

He sat down at an empty seat near the bar, and waited a few minutes before he was bothered by the bar keeper, a nice looking woman who asked him not to take up a seat if he wasn't going to order anything, so to make her go away, he had just given her some money and told her to get him something to drink that wasn't absolutely fucking horrible tasting.

This game was surprisingly challenging, for how old it was. Though maybe that was all the flashing lights on the screen making it had to concentrate on making the little guy jump and dodge the pixel shaped... lizard creatures? Much less try and smash them with the hammer. He was in the middle of one of the levels when his pocket vibrated, and let out a barely heard ding, signaling a text message. For the moment he ignored, playing the game again and again, and actually getting pretty far. Until he ran out of quarters anyway.

With a small laugh at how something so simple could be so amusing, Gamzee straightened, stretching his back as he had to lean over to play the game, rolling his shoulders so that the bones there popped comfortably back in place. When he finally pulled out his phone to look at the text that had been sent, he froze, and had to re-read it multiple times to make sure that he was reading it right.

AT: hOPE YOU'RE HAVING, fUN SO FAR,  
>AT: kARKAT, uH, sWUNG BY, i TOLD HIM YOU WERE AT,<br>AT: wELL THE BAR,

Gamzee didn't respond, instead, he entered the writhing, moving crowd, and began to navigate towards the bar.

What was set in front of Karkat was a tall, clear glass with some kind of tinted red liquid, The top of it was frothy. Karkat stared at the drink for a few seconds before sighing and downing half of it in one gulp. Surprisingly it didn't taste all that bad. It was tangy, with a hint of sourness in there. It was foamy, and the taste wasn't too overpowering. He had expected it to be sickeningly sweet, the kind that made her face kinda pucker up in disgust, his face anyway. It dulled his headache from the music a little, and, of course, being somewhat unaware of what alcohol could do to you on account of never having drank before, he decided to take another drink.

"Louis!"

The bartender with a short crop of blond hair and green eyes, blinked at the familiar clown troll that had just been occupying the counter not moments before, "Hello again friend. Need another?"

"Nah motherfucker I'm good," Gamzee responded, glancing up and down the row at the patrons, with furrowed brows, "I'm trying to track down a bro, smallish horns?" the other bartender appeared, a troll with four horns, all pointing almost directly backwards.

"End of the bar," he grunted, before heading back to work, repeating the sound after Gamzee walked down the row of people.

His vascular thump gave an awkward thump, as he saw a familiar shape perched on a stool. Gamzee hesitated for only a moment, that smile fading for a split second... but Tavros had said that Karkat was looking for him, so that meant he had come to some kind of decision right? A few more heart beats, and Gamzee moved, easy smile on his face, as he came up beside Karkat, leaned down, and in typical Capricorn fashion, gave a rather sudden shout of, "HEY KARKAT!"

Karkat jumped, inhaling some of the tangy liquid in his mouth, and going into a coughing fit for a few seconds.

"Jegus christ! Scare me half to death why don't you?"

Gamzee laughed, he couldn't help it. Sometimes scaring Karkat was just way to much fun, the reactions in particular were quite amusing. "Sorry brother," he said as the laughter dimmed down and hands found their way into his pockets, smile still broad across his face, "Just couldn't help it. You had some serious interests going with your drink." And with another small chuckle, he came up to Karkat's other side, slipping onto the bar stool easily enough, and although he certainly seemed chill and himself, one hand was silently fiddling with the phone in his pocket.

"Tavbro got me informed that you were on the hunt for me?"

"Yeah, After the insane amount of fucking time I thought about this whole stupid menageristic fuck of a stiuation I decided that we're still moirails because I'm a retarded nook-sucking fuck-head"

With that, he reached over and grabbed the glass, silencing himself for a second by taking a long drink.

"Also you invited me here, remember? I said I would come, so I fucking did"

Gamzee was silent for a long moment, before he launched forward and wrapped the Cancer in a tight hug, laughing as he did so, fangs bared in a broad smile. "Thanks best friend," though he didn't specify if it was a thanks for coming, confirming they were still moirail's, or both, "You're seriously the best motherfucker ever bucketed!"

* * *

><p>For those who are like me and sometimes things go over your brain because it likes to be stupid.<p>

Gamzee meant that Karkat was the best person who had ever been reproduced, not that they had bucketed together.

Just clarification, I needed it, as much as I hate to admit that. XD

-_Eren S. _


	48. Music and Rainbows

I have discovered the perfect way to sum up this chapter and the next

Fanservice

also Karkat should never get drunk ever, it makes him way too happy.

- _Eren S_.

* * *

><p>Oh jegus fuck now he was being hugged. Karkat's arms were pinned to his sides by the Capricorn hugging him, leaving him to only wiggle a bit uncomfortably. "Yeah okay, enough with the fucking hugging"<p>

The Cancer was released as Gamzee perched back on the stool, keeping himself balanced there as well, too wide grin still on his face. If the need arose later, they could talk more, exchange words. But for now, this, just this was enough. He gave a curious head tilt at what Karkat was drinking, before looking for a certain bartender, "Hey Louis, bring a motherfucker a Black Velvet will ya?" There was a slight change of tempo, and Gamzee glanced up, seeing Tavros behind the booth now, and gave a brief wave, before turning back to Karkat. "Lay on me your thinkings of this music box."

"You know the names of drinks?" Karkat asked, raising an eyebrow towards Gamzee. Though it kinda made... no it really didn't. Karkat knew he took sopor slime and was drugged almost all the time, but for some reason it was hard to imagine Gamzee drinking. Then again, Karkat didn't really watch Tv or read books or magazines like that. He wasn't around people who drank, and he had never really had any interest to, so he was kinda clueless about the effects of alcohol on people or the kind of people who drank it.

But towards the music, he guessed it was ok? He wasn't used to such heavy, bass beats. He'd never tell anyone, ever, but he much preferred the soft, romantic style of music, he blamed his romcoms for that, damn them for being so good. "I... I guess it's good?"

Gamzee gave a honk at Karkat's query, smiling afterwords in his amusement, waiting the second response, before answering, "Yeah, most alcohol quenchers are the same at drinking places. Unless they got some shiny happy special liquid." Gamzee leaned back a bit, arms flailing out to catch himself on the bar to keep from falling over, before continuing, "I... visited a lot of drink places for a while. Jarren would tag along. But, I dropped the motherfuckers when it started to go dark, wasn't really healthy having that many poisons getting swirls going in my veins. "

The Capricorn gave a broad smile as Louis returned, a tall drink in hand that had a warm looking amber looking liquid at the bottom, fade to a charcoal, then black near the top. "Thanks bro, open a tab for us and I'll get some payment going before we navigate off," Louis gave a nod with a smile, leaving for a brief moment to go do that, while Gamzee plucked a long stir straw out of a glass of things and gave the drinks a few turns, turning the entire liquid and creaming charcoal before bringing it up for a drink, downing half the glass. Unhindered by the strong, yet smooth tang that crossed over sopor numbed taste buds. Lips were licked clean before he inclined the glass towards Karkat with a smile, "Wanna give it a try?"

Louis returned then, giving a nod to Gamzee to confirm the tab had been open, before looking to Karkat, "Anything else I can get you gentleman?"

Karkat watched Gamzee drink the bottle, his thoughts mainly running along the lines of 'wow, do all barkeepers just leave the mixing up to their customers? That's kind of fucking lazy.' . . . Okay that was a really stupid thing to be thinking about. "uhm... no, I think I'm good on that" He responded simply, staring at the glass again. Brown, it was like drinking a big glass of Tavros... okay that was another weird thought, this club must be seriously getting to him.

He finally tore his eyes away from the drink, and glanced around the shelves at random, before spotting a sign that said 'drink of the night' with a name plastered beneath it.

"Blue Tarantula"

The Capricorn smiled, but said nothing as Louis went to go get the requested drink. Then Gamzee was suddenly on his feet, stretching his arms far above his head, "Man I feel like I'm motherfucking bubbling bro, do you feel this shit?" He felt giddy, for more than one reason, and the energy from the club was making his fingers tingle. Or maybe that was the beginnings of the drink. "This place feels crazy alive, like the stars have come down to lay miracles on the earth. All, thump thump brothers and sisters, death don't have shit on this."

"...Not really, clubs aren't my cup of fucking tea" Karkat replied somewhat sourly, annoyed by the bright flashing lights giving him a headache. "If you feel like running around and dancing or whatever, feel free, I'll be right here"

Gamzee gave his head a tilt, looking at Karkat for a moment, before coming up beside him again, "Thanks for coming again best friend, shit wouldn't be nearly as epic excited without you here. If you're in the want, this has got like... a weeks worth of sweet romcom watching nights scheduled." and then he jumped away, the energy flowing under his veins pulsating like a second entity that just ensisted on him moving. Shit, he needed to take these bubbles from a simmer to a boil. So he'd let Karkat adjust to the noise and atmosphere of the club.

A quick glance, and indigo eyes fell on a loner who was sitting to the side, looking like they wanted to dance, but were to shy to. So without any introduction, he trotted over, grabbed the very surprised individual lightly by the wrists and pulled them into the crowd. All confident smiles, before they became liquid movement with the mass of twisting, scantily clad bodies, and rising heat.

Karkat just watched as Gamzee jumped away, dragging a random stranger into the dance crowd and then effectively disappearing in the group. Karkat rolled his eyes, fighting the urge to let a small, sarcastic smile play across his face, forcing it to remain just as slightly annoyed and stoic as always...

Until someone took a seat near him and he turned to look at who it was and holy jegus fuck so many colors.

The girl was tall, not as tall as Gamzee, but a little higher than the average for female trolls, enough for it to be noticeable. She had two horns planted directly on the sides of her head, one jagged, pointing up, the other zigzagging downwards. Her eyes were a bright, vibrant green that seemed almost unreal, only made even more attention catching by the matching green gloss covering her eyelids, catching the light and making her eyes glitter like jewels. Her lips were painted dark green, contrasting the brightness of her eyes as if all the attention of her face was to be focused there. Bangs of varying colors, pink, green, blue, black, hung down her face, the rest of her hair just as randomly colored as her bangs, hanging down from a ponytail arched to the side of her head. two braids hung down from the sides of her face, beaded at the end, and seeming to swing around her like ribbons.

Her hair and makeup were enough to catch attention all on their own, but to top it off, she had to be dressed in such a fucking weird and revealing way too, with a body that would make trolls and humans alike turn their heads. A pair of ripped, blue leather pants that clung tightly to her legs, low on her waist. her shirt was white, and somewhat loose, tied off to leave her midrift showing, hanging low over her chest, and an assortment of beads and colored necklaces hung around her throat, jingling like little bells.

Karkat just stared at her like a fucking rainbow had just walked in and sat down next to him, because one pretty much just had. He finally realized he was staring and averted his gaze. She didn't even seem to notice, calling for the barkeep and ordering something called a 'salty dog'. The troll nodded, disappearing for a moment and leaving Karkat and the she-troll in uncomfortable silence. She was smiling, not even seeming to know that he was right there, which he was perfectly comfortable with, she looked... well... like a whore.

When he came back, he set down two drinks, Karkat's blue-spider thing or whatever the fuck it was called (it looked like a blue icee to him but whatever) and a orangish tan drink in front of the girl. She picked up hers, and took a nice long drink of it, swishing it around in her mouth before swallowing, and then turning to Karkat, raising an eyebrow. "Little man, that is a strong drink and I don't think someone your size can handle somethin' like that" she stated simply, motioning towards his drink.

The red blooded troll scowled, picking it up, and downing the small glass in one drink, and then shivered a bit at the taste, smooth, with something that kinda reminded him a little bit of lemons, or maybe... limes? Fuck he wasn't good at telling tastes apart.

She laughed, clapping her hands together and giving him a somewhat sarcastically proud smile. "So I was proved wrong! Nice show little man. Now inform me, the 'I really don't want to be here' look on your face only tells part of it, you get dragged here by some friends or are you a newcomer?"

Between different sets, different songs, Tavros would glance up from the turntables to scan the crowd. After his eyes had gotten used to the lights and could actual pinpoint individuals, he was able to spot first Gamzee. A smile pulled at his fanged lips as, predictably, Gamzee was in the middle of the dance crowd, twisting and dancing from partner to partner, laughing with this too wide smile on his face. He was glad to see that whatever had been bothering the male had seemed to clear, afer he had talked to Karkat.

Speaking of which, the Cancer seemed to be occupying himself with some drinks at the bar with a... colorful looking troll lady. Okay, that was strange. But he supposed if Karkat was absolutely opposed to the accompany he would just leave. So he went back to his music, spinning the discs and giving the crowd something to move to. Dave waiting silent and patient as ever in the background, for their next swap.

Okay maybe it was the alcohol making him not give as many shits as he would have normally, but after about ten minutes of conversation, Karkat had somehow gotten himself in a sort of drinking game. First it had started out as a competition, she had insulted his abillity to handle alcohol and, like an idiot, he was determined to prove her wrong. Unsurprisingly, with each drink, it became a whole hell of a lot more for the fun of talking.

Fourty minutes later, and he was laughing, holding one hand in front of his mouth as he tried to control the flood of chuckles. Oh fuck, so many gogdamn drinks, he couldn't remember the names, just a blur of colors, red, blue, yellow, gold, teal, green, brown, purple, pink, clear. The club wasn't an annoying carnage of lights and music anymore, but a mass of colors and tastes and swirls and beats that made his whole body thump in tune with the rythym.

"Nice story there little man, looks like the music is finally workin' it's magic on ya" Rainbow-troll responded, managling to stiffle her own laughs. Okay, that amount of drinks was enough to make even a veteran drinker like herself pretty damn tipsy, she was surpsied newbie here was taking it pretty well, sure he was fucking wasted, but not throwing up or drooling or passing out or anything like that. She stood up, stretching as she heard a new set being played, a smile crossing over her brightly painted lips. "Come on dude, gotta loosen up now" She stated, grabbing the troll's wrist and tugging on him a little to get out of his seat. He frowned. "Dancing isn't really my thing"

"Little man, you cannot just leave a troll girl waiting for a dance like this" She responded simply, tugging a little harder and pulling him up to his feet, laughing at the confused look on his face as she then began to drag the drunken nub-horn towards the dance floor, both of them melting into the crowd.

After a good few hours of dancing, Gamzee was feeling a bit out of breath. That combined with the alcohol AND slime, made for an interesting swirl of colors, and sights, as he finally stumbled out of the crowd, giving a laugh at the pouting face of... someone, he couldn't tell if they were male or female, before heading back to the bar where Karkat had last been. Now however, he was gone. The Capricorn tilted his head, perching on his empty bar stool to grab one of the bartenders attention. "Did you..." he paused to laugh a little at the friendly smile on the other's face, "Did you get your see on where the troll here relocated to?"

With a nod, the woman pointed to the dance floor. Indigo eyes averted, scanning the crowd, before he had to blink with disbelief. Karkat was actually on the dance floor doing... something. He bit back a laugh, and was about to turn back and ask the tender how many drinks his friend had had, when he spotted a particular person with the Cancer. Quite frankly she looked like a rainbow had regurgitated the contents of it's stomach all over her. Gamzee was happy to see Karkat having fun, but there was this uncomfortable pull at his stomach... a twist of something that he couldn't quite define. He leaned back silently though, propping his elbows on the bar, facing the dance floor, his eyes glued on the two of them.

When a sudden clink to his side made the male glanced over. A flute, filled with a drink he was unfamiliar with, was set by his side, the troll tender with the four horns facing almost directly backwards straightened up with a grunt before, "You might need it." then as he was walking away he mumbled a quick explanation, "Troll's only, shit will tear human's insides."

Gamzee didn't understand what he meant that he might need it, but he understood the second half. It was a warning of the potency of the drink, and to be cautious with it. So taking it in hand, he took a long sip, twitching ever so slightly at the tartness that stung not only his tongue, but all the way down his throat to the stomach. With an appreciative cough and laugh, he looked back to the crowd for a moment, trying to figure out that unfamiliar feeling pulling at him, as he watched the two of them dance... if that was what one could call it.


	49. Bed Time

_So_

_Much_

_Fanservice_

On another note, we now have a tumblr account featuring art and what not for the story~! Including Character designs.

of course, we will always post up the chapters here for those of you who aren't able to follow the tumblr blog =3

http :/ delightfullydementedduo . tumblr. com/ remove the Spaces

* * *

><p>Karkat was seriously not good at this whole dancing thing. But he tried, mainly because each time he tried to escape he was kinda dragged back by miss rainbow, who would pout and get him into dancing again. It was fun though. However, when he spotted Gamzee over by himself at the bar, he turned to face the Capricorn, a bright smile across his face, those charcoal eyes slightly hazed as he waved, and then began to push his way through the dance crowd towards Gamzee.<p>

He wasn't sure where it came from, but there was a small smirk of satisfaction in seeing that as soon as the Cancer had spotted him, he had abandoned his dancing partner and was making his way towards him. The strange triumph however, was dulled with momentary shock at the bright smile, so finishing off the drink with another cough, he stood, just as the Cancer was in ear shot. "Man best friend, how much fire liquid have you ingested?" Gamzee grinned, watching the stumbled movements with repressed laughter. He wondered if Karkat had ever been drunk before.

Karkat stumbled to a stop in front of the taller troll, one hand up in front of his mouth as he tried to stop the flurry of giggles that tumbled out and shook his head. "I don't even know"

Gamzee laughed at both the barely contained giggles, and just the completely at ease look on the Cancer's face. Ah, the wonders of inebriation. It wasn't good to get like that all the time, but the occasional amusement certainly didn't hurt. "Wanna stay planted a bit longer brother? Or get navigated back to our HQ's?" The thumping music and everything was great and all, but the male was starting to feel the effects of physical and emotional taxing activities, and would not be adverse to heading back to chill and just breath. A colorful movement out of the corner of Gamzee's eyes brought his attention up, towards a certain female.

The Capricorn slipped an easy, all too familiar smile on his face, as polite and friendly as could be. Indigo eyes curious at the female that had just previously, been dancing with his moirail.

Karkat finally managed to stop the damn laughing in time to shake his head. "Nooooo! I haven't danced with you yet!" He stated simply, just in time for Miss Rainbow (as was now her nickname, since he still didn't know her actual name) to cross the last few feet towards the two, giving a somewhat goofy smile to the cancer and his friend.

"Well I was gonna take little man back here onto the dance floor with me, but seems like you already got your fingers tied 'round him, good luck with this one" She stated simply, winking at Gamzee before stepping off to the side, giving the two males a goodbye wave as she molded back into the mass of sweat and bodies.

Gamzee gave this somewhat uneven blink as he watched the woman waltz away, confused by her comment. Though what she could have been implying was somewhat lost on him... somewhat, if the slight flush beneath his make-up had anything to say about it. Arguably it could have been the drink as well, though this was as ignored as the woman with wicked miraculous hair was shoved to the back of his mind. Indigo eyes refocusing on a certain red-blooded Cancer, "Alright Karkat, I can get my show going on how this motherfucker breaths in music. Think you can keep up?" He was smirking, but even as he took a step forward, he gave a small stumble, releasing a honk of surprise, before following it up with a small chuckle.

"No guarantees! I suck at dancing" Karkat responded easily, not having even understood the slightest bit of Miss Rainbow's comment; giving a somewhat slurred laugh as Gamzee tripped a little and then honked. In the back of his mind he was pretty sure that neither of them would be very good out on the dance floor in their condition. Nevertheless, he still followed after the highblood, smiling.

And the Cancer's mental deduction would have been correct, for the Capricorn anyway. Because things were a slight blur, and as he began to do this sort of... hop from one foot to another until it was almost in time with the beat thing, one could almost see the amusement on his lips, when they were back on the dance floor. Then he was moving to the unsteady beat, all sways and goofy smile.

It was probably a good thing it was later at night in the club. No one noticed the two trolls and their awkward dancing, mainly because half of the other people here were pretty out of it too, whichever their drug of choice was, alcohol, weed, ecstasy, you name it, someone here was probably doing it.

it could have been hours, it could have only been minutes, Karkat didn't really care at this state of intoxication, in fact he wasn't really caring much about anything at the moment. He wasn't really thinking, no motive for what he was doing, he was just... doing whatever. and right now, that was dancing.

Until things got a bit too crowded, someone was getting a little too crazy with their dance moves and moving all over the place, Karkat didn't notice until they slammed right into him. His mind was too slow to let him catch his balance, so instead, his hands flung out, seeking some sort of thing to grab onto so he didn't end up face planting into the ground.

It was curious how much of coincidence things can be at times. The Capricorn was in the middle of a turn, when he became aware of two things. One, there was a sudden, brief, pressure at his hips followed by shallow scrapes. And Two, there was now a slight breeze down south. Gamzee held both hands up, and would have taken a step back, had his pants not been at his feet now.

"Woah, motherfucker," and then he looked down. Oh look, Karkat was now on the floor.

Whatever Karkat managed to grab didn't do shit to stop his falling, but he did manage to turn around and and on his ass instead, now laying on the dance floor with his eyes closed and a frown on his face. If he wasn't so gogdamn drunk he probably would have had a headache. But as it was, it was just a slight buzzing in the back of his skull. He heard someone speak, and opened his eyes, only to turn utterly red faced, letting go of the accidental hold on the other male's pants to throw both his hands other the lower part of his face. The kind of expression and movement a toddler might make when they knew something was 'oops' or maybe even 'uh oh...'. Instantly his brain told him that during his flailing, he must have grabbed onto Gamzee's pants and accidently pulled them down when he fell.

And Gamzee didn't fucking wear underwear.

As soon as it seemed to occur to the Cancer, so to did it to the Capricorn, and even beneath the chalk white grease paint on his cheeks, a slight dark indigo tint could be seen. But instead of shock, he simply held that same broad smile as he shuffled back a bit, "Man Karkat, your'e like an electric rod for embarrassing insta-" a high pitched whistling made the male jump to the side, stumbling slightly as his pants caught at his ankles, a few of their fellow drunken dancers had seemed to take notice to the... well, accidental surprise. "Hold on, hold on motherfuckers, I got this shit. You alright best friend?" he was blushing, but laughed as well as he shouted over to Karkat, bending and fighting a sway as he grabbed at his jeans in a couple of attempts to pull them up, until finally able to actually keep hold of them.

Oh jegus why was it taking so long for him to get his damn pants up? Karkat sat up, finally twisting his gaze away from the embarrassing sight, hands still over the lower part of his face, attempting to hide his utterly red cheeks. A few of the dancers were laughing at the sight, glancing mostly at Gamzee, but giving a few wayward looks at Karkat as well. He ignored them, stumbling to get up to his feet when a hand grabbed on his upper arm and helped him up, a laugh coming from the rainbow girl's throat as she pulled Karkat to his feet, having been dancing not that far away and gotten to see the whole accident.

"You two are way too wasted to keep dancing" She stated, not bothering to even try and stop her laughter as she held her sides. But she couldn't help but be just the slightest bit jealous, little man's 'friend' was pretty damn 'gifted' when it came to things below the belt. "You two 'bros' better start heading back to home"

Gamzee gave a broad smile at Miss Rainbow as he finished hiking his pants back up around his hips, "I think you're in the right motherfucker, time to head back to our mini hives, and snug down for serious Z's." The Capricorn gave a wave of his hand, an indication for Karkat to follow, as he made his way towards the bar. He had to pay off their tab first before they left, plus, Gamzee wanted to get a drink of water to sober up just a bit, before he had to drive his bike. No doubt the cold autumn air outside would help as well.

Karkat blinked, and merely followed, STILL keeping his hands firmly on his face to fail at hiding that blush as it faded away at an almost painfully slow rate. He waited patiently, swaying ever so slightly and stumbling a bit if he leaned too much in one direction, while Gamzee downed a glass of water to help clear his head. In the back of Karkat's mind, he would have liked to point out that driving in this state, either of them, was incredibly fucking stupid and he should really call Nepeta, but his brain would have none of that, and promptly ignored that little voice there.

Once everything was settled and the room wasn't swaying as much, he headed for the door, pausing to make sure Karkat was following, before briefly pulling out his phone to text Tavros and thank him for inviting them and such. They could always blame the red coloring in Karkat's cheeks to the lights of the club, but it was best to not take the risk. Man, the look that was on his bro's face, and still kind of there, was all sorts of motherfucking adorable. Like a kid told not to look, but did anyway, and was shocked by what he saw.

When the cool air stung his face, a slight sigh came from the Capricorn as it did end up clearing his mind a bit more. He just stood there for a moment, hands in his coat pockets as he looked down the long line of neon lights and slowly quieting clubs. There were only three motorcycles left in front of Heat & Clockwork, and he headed towards Miss Mirth without a second thought, glancing over to the still swaying Karkat with a smile, "You alright bro?" he asked again, since he hadn't received an answer the first time, as the Cancer had been a bit preoccupied covering his blush.

Ah the motorcycle again, even drunk, Karkat looked at it with some concern on his face, though not nearly the same amount as before. It did distract him from what happened in the club, the memory of it fluttering away in the breeze of his mind. The blush receded, only a hint of it left now, as he blinked at the question, and nodded, a small smile playing across his lips. "I'm fine, just a little... dizzy"

The Capricorn's smile broadened at that, swinging onto his bike comfortably, pulling it to a stand, and pushing back the kickstand with a nudge of his boot. He did notice the look of concern, and tried to give some reassurance. "Don't get too much worry, I pretty much operate most of my world under a haze. At least the skies not pouring down salivating waters this time," and he laughed a little, extending his hand and arm once more to offer some help onto the back of Miss Mirth. Gamzee felt more at ease than he had in weeks. For at least this night, they had been able to not think of what had happened, or what was going to happen. It was a night to become temporarily lost, to take just another detour.

Karkat accepted the help on, being way too fucking wavery to get on that damn bike himself. On top of that, it was cold, numbing his already feeling-less feet and hands, making the world swim in watery colors that just seemed to merge together.

The ride back to the Skaia dorms wasn't so bad, Karkat kinda zoned out for most of it, arms locked around the indigo troll's waist as he stared at the buildings flying by, trying to keep track of them and failing completely. So he was a bit caught off guard when the bike began to slow, the rumbling upset his stomach, and for a moment, he wasn't sure if he was going to throw up or not, thankfully he managed to hold it in.

The cycle did give a slight wobble as they pulled into a parking spot, Gamzee extending his feet to balance the mechanical device, and keep it from tipping over before coming to a full stop. Once he was sure everything was as steady as possible, the Capricorn cut the motor, and slipped his keys back in his pocket, glancing over his shoulder at the Cancer, "Don't get your think pan lost about the metal tube bro. Shit can leave a wicked burn."

Without the warning, Karkat probably would have slammed his foot right into the metal burning red hot. As it was, he glanced down at the aforementioned tube, noticing it starting to scorch a small corner of his pants, and quickly swept his leg away, blinking slowly as he proceeded to get off the motorcycle in a rather goofy manner, keeping his leg as far away from that side of the bike as he could, stumbling and nearly falling, but managing to catch himself before he got too far down, and straightened up as much as he could.

Gamzee resisted the fit of giggles that were threatening to bubble from his lips, as he swung his leg off the bike, gripping hold of one of the handles to keep balance, until he was almost sure he could stand without falling over. As soon as everything was steady, he straightened back to his full height, gave an awkward stretch and gave a small up onto the sidewalk, arms flailing only slight to keep balance, before he looked over to Karkat with a broad smile, "Alright best friend, shall we relocate to quiet room times?"

Good thing Gamzee didn't start giggling because if he did then Karkat was gonna start giggling like a little school girl with a dirty secret. That was something that should never be in the same sentence as his name. So instead, he just tried to stop smiling back, but couldn't help the goofy grin that spread over his face, hands lifting up to stop the giggles before they started, nodding his head.

The Capricorn gave a honk in response, before turning and with a singular giant step, taking the lead. The walk was somewhat slow as it was accompanied by frequent stops over multiple things. A funny shaped tree, the way the buildings were spread apart, and the occasional oddly shaped shadows. All seemed to bring some sort of amusement, whether it was via giggles, comments, or other such tom-foolery that inebriation brought to one's minds. They must have been quite a sight really, more-so the Cancer. Gamzee was honestly surprised that the nub-horned male hadn't lost the contents of his protein sack to the floor yet. Or quite frankly, just passed out. Man, he was probably going to have one hell of a hangover though.

With all that said, it was safe to assume they were sufficiently amused as a 5 minute walk, neared the 20 mark as they finally entered the dorm building.

Okay it was seriously a good thing that Karkat and Gamzee's rooms were right next to each other, and on the first floor, and in the first hallway. Otherwise the two of them might not have made it that far, as it was, Karkat had to push on at least three doors before finding his own, which slid open to his touch thanks to the broken lock, and giggled at the fact that he had to try so many doors to find his own, before slipping inside.

For a moment, Gamzee just hung back, watching the Cancer in his attempts, chuckling to himself, and giving off a short series of congratulatory honks, when Karkat found his door. Following his example, he went to the door right next to the red-blooded male, and slipped into his own room. For those that knew the indigo-blooded male, they would have been somewhat surprised to see the room mostly clean. The debris from the gaping hole in the wall had been cleared, horns place in their designated pile, and most of Gamzee's items were off the floor. Oh, the Capricorn hadn't done anything, Valus had simply came over for a visit the previous morning, and had been horrified by the mess.

The too tall troll stretched, stumbling over to his dresser while throwing his coat over into one corner of the room. He then proceeded with yanking his shirt up and over his head and candy-corn horns, before giving it a toss to join his coat. Then, he began to shuffle through his drawers for pajama bottoms. Through Gamzee's haze, Karkat blushing furiously on the dance floor replayed, causing the Capricorn to fight back a smile. Until they got that hole covered, he guessed he could get to doing some snooze pants wearing, as he began to kick off his boots. Save his bro's virtue and all that.

Karkat didn't bother getting undressed, merely threw his jacket and shoes and socks off and let himself just sink into his recooporacoon. Only problem with this, it was fucking cold.

His body was already chilled by the alcohol and the bike ride here, and the slime in his recooporacoon was cold. Normally a recooporacoon was warm, not hot, but pleasant, they stored the body heat they gained from the troll sleeping in them, obviously if a troll stopped sleeping, it would stop taking in warmth. He frowned, closing his eyes as he curled up in the slime, moving down towards one end against the wall, trying to get some sort of warmth.

A minute passed, and he sighed in an irritated manner, getting up and out of the sopor slime, some of it sticking to his clothes and hair, and moved towards the hole in the wall, pausing for just a second, waiting outside it as he temporarily forgot what he was going to ask.

Gamzee had just finished changing, wiping the paint from his face, and eating a bag of chips (as shocking as it was, he did have food other than slime in his nutrition block), when he paused in front of his coon. He was about to slip in, when the slight sound of slightly sloshed footsteps came from a certain gaping orifice. Indigo eyes turned, pausing to blink for a moment, before a broad smile came over the Capricorn's lips, "Hey brother, what can I do for ya?"

Karkat blinked, seeming somewhat surprised that Gamzee was speaking to him, he had thought he was somewhat out of sight.

Also he forgot he was just standing there. But whatever.

He frowned, once again trying to remember what it was he was going to ask, but instead. . . "It's cold"

The highblood gave this sort of confused blink before, "Yeah, guess it kind of motherfucking is. Not too surprising what with it nearing time for the white fluff to descend." brows furrowed a bit, "Something all up and wrong?"

"Can I sleep in your room?"

"Sure bro," he didn't even have to think about it, smiling twitching a fraction wider. "Wanna occupy my coon? That way you can get all sorts of fucking snug and warm, and I'll just get some snooze going on my horn pile."

Karkat shook his head, "Wouldn't you have nightmares then?" He asked, a somewhat concerned look across those glazed over eyes.

Gamzee shrugged, "Yeah, but shit don't really nudge under my skin." For a moment he hesitated, brows raising at the look that crossed over his bro's expression, before he turned to give a look at his recoupracoon for a long moment. He actually gave a thoughtful hum, before looking back to Karkat, "Well best friend, coon's big enough. If you're in the worry, we can just get some sharing going."

Karkat blinked, running the idea over in his mind, and nope, nothing could possibly go wrong with this plan, and he smiled. "Seems fine to me!" He responded in an oddly cheerful, yet somewhat sleepy tone.

The Capricorn gave a laugh at that, at how accepting his bro was of the idea. Gamzee didn't mind, like he said, there was plenty of room. It'd be like a miniature sleep over, and his best bro would get both serious walks in dream land, and be toasty warm. "You better get navigated in first bro, my coon hole can be a bit of a motherfucking trickster. That way I can give serious assistance, in case you're in need of some balancing aid."

Karkat, even though he couldn't take two damn steps without stumbling, was able to navigate himself into the recooporacoon with ease, putting his legs in first and then easily sliding inside. He curled up near one of the ends, eyes watching the opening for just a second, before they closed, and he let out a deep breath, seeming to fall asleep almost instantly before the other male even got in all the way.

Which was of a great surprise to Gamzee, as he adjusted to the strange feeling of wearing pants in the slime, he happened to glance up and had to pause at the peacefully sleeping face of the Cancer. He didn't move for a moment, watching the subtle breath of rest that showed itself in the slight rise and fall of Karkat's chest. Before a small smile pulled at the face cleaned of it's usual clown paint, one hand rising, finger extending to poke, gentle and light, against the tip of the red-blood's nose, "Sweet Z's Karkat." Then he waded over to the opposite side of the sopor, sunk down until he was hovering in the green mush, and slipped indigo eyes closed.


	50. Awkwardness and Hangovers

It was dark and cold, and there was screaming in the distance.

He frowned, fidgeting just the tiniest bit in his sleep as he curled up closer to that warmth, trying to escape that creeping horror that surrounded his state of unconsciousness, his stomach twisting and flipping and generally feeling awful. Red blood tinging the edges of his mind, sneaking in, black claws trying to rip and tear, laughing, searching, white eyes scanning the cold for him.

He moved just a tiny bit closer to the warmth, and the screams just got louder, angry at him for moving away, unable to reach him where he was. The smallest bit closer and he was right up against that dark source of warmth, the screams receding, and leaving him alone, and he was able to go back to sleeping peacefully.

When the morning came, just like clockwork, Gamzee awoke at five am. Sharp indigo-eyes, nearly clear of any sort of haze, alcohol or sopor induced, peered silent around the inside of his coon as the male slowly began to awake from the world of dreams. The first thing he noticed, was that his recuperacoon was a bit warmer than usual. The second, was that warmth was focused to one of his arms. Gamzee's eyes drifted downwards, only to blink back a bit in surprise, an unbidden dark purple tint coming slightly to his cheeks, followed by a blurred memory. Karkat was sleeping in his coon with him... and currently had his arms wrapped around one of his own upper appendages.

In his current state, the Capricorn was between two thoughts, two desires. To pull away... and to pull him closer. The contradicting thought made Gamzee's brows furrow slightly, as indigo eyes stayed locked on the peaceful form. Slowly that crease in his brows smoothed out, and a small reluctant smile fell there instead, as he relaxed and tilted his head back, staying perfectly still, perfectly willing, to let Karkat get as much sleep as he desired, and wait for him to wake up.

Back in the past, Karkat had almost been as much an early riser as Gamzee (granted he did not have an internal alarm clock, he had an external one named Crabdad), and even in the present, whenever he did fall asleep, it barely lasted any more than a mere hour or two, if even, thanks to the nightmares. However, with his body starved for sleep, still under the lingering effects of alcohol, and so comfortable with where he was, he slept for nearly another three hours after Gamzee had already woken up.

It wasn't until around eight thirty that he finally began to stir, those red eyes opening, hazy and distorted, and staring at Gamzee, not seeming to really see him there.

His brain slowly began to click into place.

The Capricorn had been thinking of various things, whatever flitted through his mind, he grabbed it, tore it apart bit by bit, and examined every aspect of the thought. However, whenever his brain tried to make him think of Karkat, and pushed it away, telling himself that if he thought of the Cancer, he might be tempted to bother him and wake him. So deep in thought he had been that he didn't notice the initial movements his moirail made in his sleep, until he felt a gaze on him, and glanced down, indigo gaze meeting Karkat's.

A too wide smile came from Gamzee, "Morning."

Okay. So He was in a recuperacoon, that was no big deal, Gamzee was in here with him, again, no big deal, Gamzee was shirtless. No big deal.

Oh fuck what was he kidding everything about this was so wrong and oh fuck headache.

Karkat blinked, staring at the high blood for exactly ten seconds that seemed to drag out into several minutes, before the sleepy, relaxed look on his face was gone, replaced by one that was completely red, eyes wide with shock, mouth set in a straight, hard line. He instantly let go of Gamzee's arm, and shot up into a sitting position, back against the side of the recuperacoon as he stared at the highblood with that shocked, wordless expression on his face. Thank gog recuperacoons were soft and squishy while still being able to maintain their shape, otherwise he might have knocked himself right back out with the force that his head hit the side of it.

"Wh...Why...I..." He couldn't even form a fucking sentence.

Gamzee gave his head a tilt at Karkat's reaction, confusion briefly flickering across face, before that smile returned, not quite as wide, but still there, as his semi-sober mind processed a multitude of things, "Chill bro, you downed a lot of fire liquid, freak too much and that hangover will have you all fuckin' doubled over with pan pains and feeling like your getting serious illness." The Capricorn paused to give an awkward stretch, standing up in his coon with a small yawn, before stepping as casual as ever over to the opening and his coon. He pulled himself out bit by bit, careful to avoid making as little noise as possible, failing slightly as he landed on a horn and scared the shit out of himself, jumping sideways.

Then he bubbled out restrained laughter as he navigated towards his nutrition block to make some breakfast. After all, Karkat would need to put something in his stomach. He didn't have anything cold... what with his refrigerator still lying in Karkat's bathroom.

So while Karkat's brain was catching up with the situation, he continued to just sit there like a fucking idiot, a dumb as fuck look on his face, even after Gamzee left. What the fuck was he talking about fire liqu- Oh jegus fucking christ headache. Horns were fucking loud.

Karkat had never drank before, or done any sort of illegal substances or the kind of stuff normally classified as drugs and therefore, had never gone through any sort of withdrawal effect or crash or hangover. Pain, though, was something he was used to, as horrible as that sounded. For a second before he doubled over, he just stared at the spot where Gamzee had been before the other male had gotten out of the recuperacoon, trying desperately to remember what had happened last night. There were lights, a crazy looking troll sitting next to him and tricking him into drinking like a five day old wriggler, then dancing (a flush would have crossed his face at remembering this if it wasn't already completely fucking red) and then the ride home and him complaining about being cold and holy shit he was never drinking again ever for as long as he lived.

For a few minutes, he just stayed in the recuperacoon, trying to calm himself down (it was a good thing he fell asleep fully clothed or he'd be loosing every single thought he had and just flip his shit, all of it). It helped with the warm liquid around his lower body and clinging to his arms and head, probably the only thing keeping him from flying into a rage was the hangover and the slime. He groaned, and then went face first into the slime, his hands creeping over the back of his head as he just shook for a few moments, trying not to flip the fuck out and trying to deal with the hangover. He had never wanted to be near a toilet so bad in his entire life.

Thoughts, so many damn thoughts getting a buzz going in Gamzee's head. Some good, some bad, some... fuck, he didn't even know in which area to classify them. He stood in his nutrition block for a long moment, staring at one of his sopor pies without moving an inch, without saying a word. Could he go without it today? He hadn't tried going a day without the slime at the University yet, hadn't seen how the professors or his class mates really reacted to him without the haze blocking his vision. Before indigo eyes narrowed into a small glared at the edible-but-not substance, as a few more of those annoying little thoughts screamed through his head. It was as if he was having a stand-off against the thing. Before shoulders gave a barely noticeable sag, and a hand reached out to grab the lip of the pie's tin.

Just a handful of minutes later, Gamzee's head poked through the opening of his coon, "Hey best friend! Want coffee? Don't wanna drink a lot of that spaz drink. Shit dehydrates you a little, gotta drink a lot of water or get some munchies on fruit, else that'll make head poundings go louder." then Gamzee paused for a long, quiet moment, just staring at Karkat, before, "Shit, I'm in the think that I'm going to make some wisharmzical pancakes."

Karkat was caught between jumping out of this fucking coon and hiding in his room, which would probably be useless on account of the giant fucking hole in the wall; or stay in the coon until his headache went away. Both options seemed kinda dumb. But he settled on just relaxing, trying not to move too much or too fast, even though it felt REALLY fucking weird and awkward waking up like that and his face was still red and he kinda wanted to yell but he couldn't because he could remember he was the one who fucking asked to sleep in here.

Seriously, why couldn't hiding in a hole until he forgot all about this be a choice?

"Just some water" he stated in a rather hushed, but quick tone, refusing to look at the highblood, and trying to keep his face the other way as well, attempting to hide his blush.

Gamzee paused for a long moment, just watching Karkat, before, "Okay!" and just like that he popped his head back out of his coon, and jogged back to the kitchen, humming to himself, as he went about pouring a glass of water, then hunting down a skillet and mixing bowl. Man, it was seriously time for flat fluffy buttery miracles. Man, he wished he had some berries he could mix in with them, but what he had had was in refrigeration device, so they had probably gone bad by now. Oh damn, he didn't have eggs. Well at one point he did, but again, fridge was in Karkat's bathroom, so they probably had gone bad as well.

Man, he was kind of comfortable, and he really didn't want to put on his make-up yet just to go ask his neighbors to borrow some ingredients. At that time, his phone started to go off. The Capricorn grabbed the glass of water, walked back into his main room, placing the cup inside the coon, carefully on the slime, making sure the drink wasn't heavy enough to sink to far in, then gave Karkat a quick tap on the shoulder, and then scooted off to get his phone.

He found his ringing device in his coat, in the corner he had thrown his clothes the night before. "Hello?"

"Good morning Gamzee."

"Oh, hey sis!"

"I need to talk to you sometime this evening."

"Sure thing, when you got your mind on a time, just give me a ring. Oh! Oh, oh! Sis, can you do a motherfucker a favor?"

"...I am hesitant to answer. Is this concerning Vantas again?"

"Noooo... well, sorta kinda. I need eggs, some milk, and butter- oh! Some fucking sweet ass strawberries to!"

"...no."

"Aw, come on Sis, I'm craving serious cooking time. Besides, consider it a motherfucking payment of sorts for finding out something you shouldn't have."

"Specify."

"Mmmm, nope, I'm not in the think that I will."

"... very well, I'll be there with your specified items in about twenty minutes."

"Thanks sis! You're a wicked she-troll."

"Eat more of that horrific substance before I arrive, I'd rather avoid being looked at with thoughts of death and mutilation being focused upon me."

Then she hung up, and with a hum, Gamzee turned towards his drawers to shuffle around for a shirt, as most of the slime had dripped free from his upper body, or dried by that time. Ever patient, for Karkat to get a move going, not that he would be surprised if it took him a little bit. At least he had gotten some decent snooze times. The Capricorn paused briefly at that thought, hands wrapped around a long sleeved shirt with a faded circus top, and some grunge styled Alternian words of a troll band written below it. Before with a simple, honk, he slipped it on.

He seemed to ignore the glass of water at first, trying desperately to get his reeling stomach under control as it seemed to get worse and better, not helped at all by the headache that seemed to make him hypersensitive to every fucking thing in the room, every tiny little noise or shift of light was like a dagger being jabbed into his eye sockets. Finally one hand reached out and grabbed it, pulling it up out of the slime with an audible 'pop' that made his ears ring, and drank the entire glass slowly.

When it settled in his stomach, he felt somewhat better, more like he WASN'T going to vomit up all of his digestive organs. Still pretty damn sick, but mostly it was a headache now. So, holding the glass in one hand, he sighed, grabbing a handful of slime from his hair and trying to wipe it off (succeeding only in slicking all of his hair backwards with a few clumps sticking up somewhat oddly) and then moved towards the opening of the coon.

For some reason, he could not get out of the fucking thing like a normal gogdamn troll, his hand, covered in sopor slime, grabbed the edge so he could steady himself, and slipped, causing him to crash down onto the floor, eyes closed as he just snarled at the ceiling.

"I am never going to fucking drink again"

The resounding thud of Karkat's body hitting the floor, caused Gamzee to jump, and glance over his shoulder at the male for a moment... before lips pressed tight in an attempt to restrain the laughter that threatened to bubble it's way out into a cackle. Instead, he walked to Karkat's side, leaning over him a little and giving him a tilt of the head. "Probably for the motherfucking best bro, you sure get lots of smiles going under such influence. Kinda weird," a gave a small chuckle at that memory, "You in the need of some helpful assistance?" he held out his hand, an offer to help the Cancer up if he wanted, slowly of course. Stood up too fast with a hangover, and he'd meet the floor in a similar fashion he had currently been introduced.

"I know what I fucking did, for the most part, okay?" Karkat spat, his voice cracking for just a second, ending his little tantrum in a long moan as he raised his hands up to his head, covering his ears and keeping his eyes closed tightly as his head rang, yeah, he was just gonna... lay here for a minute.

Gamzee held up his hands defensively, smile still on his face as a small chuckle escaped, "Never said you didn't bro." A knock at the door caught Gamzee's attention, and so he left Karkat to his misery on the floor, to answer it. Opening it, to find Valus standing there with a barely contained glare in her eyes, though that faded to mild surprise, blinking in silent shock at the Capricorn.

"Woah sis, that was wicked fast," the Capricorn smiled, apparently not noticing, or ignoring the look on the female's face, as he lightly tugged the bags from her grasp and examined their contents.

"You're not wearing... why is Vantas on your floor covered in..." A fierce blush came across Valus' face then as she looked at Gamzee with wide eyes, irritation creeping up on her at the confused look she saw there before. "Gam-"

"No reason. Thanks for the motherfucking munchies sis. Catch ya later," and then he stepped back with a friendly smile and closed the door, turning back to his room and humming lightly. Not even glancing at the Cancer on the floor as he navigated to his nutrition block, seeming perfectly pleased as he took each item out bit by bit. Finally, it was fucking pancake time.


	51. Intermission

Valus stormed out of the dorms, head held high, lips pressed in a thin line, and that unbidden blush receding from her cheeks, replaced by one of irritation. That, had been unexpected. Every part of that situation was flashing bad news across her mind, but a part of her knew... a part of her hoped that what she had just witnessed was a misunderstanding of some sort. But oh god, Vantas had been covered in slime and had clearly just climbed out of Gamzee's recuperacoon. But he had been clothed, that meant something right?

A sigh came from the female highblood's lips then, as she pulled her coat tighter about her curved frame, keeping her posture straight and poised, even as a particularly cold wind tickled her skin and stung the tip of her nose. What was she going to do with that indigo boy? Fraternizing with a mutant blood (from what Tansis told her), and being caught in such situations. It had been quite shocking to hear, and the little dancer troll had been disappointed when she had been more horrified than amused. Bright red blood... the signless. The reappearance of that bloodline always harbored change, usually at the disadvantage of the highbloods.

Tansis and Jarren apparently hadn't recognized his blood color as being associated with that, but Valus had. Her ancestor had been the Informant after all, and she had proudly taken on the same role, the same thirst for information. By every right she should tell the highbloods and rally to cull the little nuisance before he had the chance to grow and cause trouble.

But then there was Gamzee.

She would have released a sigh, if it wasn't below her, as she entered the library, unbuttoning her coat as she navigated up a flight of stairs, and to a sitting area in the far corner. The likes of which, a buzz of activity and voices came, muffled by the rows of books. Valus came around the corner and paused, eyebrows rising at the sight.

Tansis sat in one chair, lost in a fit of giggles, with Jarren leaning against a book case, a blush covering the entirety of his face as he glared at a fairly new female troll, her horns standing straight up, parallel to one another. "My apologies for my tardiness, I had to run an errand."

The new female merely looked over at Valus, glowing white eyes closing as she smiled, giving the other female a polite wave. "No problems~!" She answered with a little laugh, waving the incident off with the flick of her hand. "I personally think you have every reason to be worried about this 'errand' of yours"

"Valus is concerned? Aaaaw, what's got you in such a worry Val?" Tansis crooned, draping herself over the arm of her chair and smiling upside down at the light indigo blooded female.

"Probably tat creepy badass psychic ting," growled Jarren, shifting his weight uncomfortably from one foot to another, and sending a glare at the dancer troll as she giggled again.

"Hardly creepy, I believe such a thing sounds useful," commented Valus simply, taking a seat with a silent hum, back straight, crossing her legs near robotic, before folding her hands lightly in her lap. Then her eyes returned to the somewhat new arrival, ignoring Jarren as he grumbled out something that sounded suspiciously like a 'you would'. "Would you mind specifying Cee? I would rather not betray any personal information to a newly known acquaintance, unless you are already aware of it."

Cee just kept that smile up, turning first to Jarren as she wiggled her left index finger back and forth. "Mr. Grumpy" She stated simply, sticking her tongue out somewhat childishly at him before turning back to Valus, and shrugging. "I just know you have an issue with a certain troll, you need him to be gone, I can help do that" Of course, she knew far more of the situation than just that~ but that talk was for them to discover on their own.

'Mr. Grumpy', growled at his nickname side-shuffling a little away, and keeping his eyes off of anyone but the three females with him. Tansis had lied, she said they were going to go get eat at some place with chicken. But instead, she had dragged him to go meet the not creepy too-sweet troll from the previous night.

A small smile pulled at Valus lips at that, as she regarded the white-eyed troll with a raised brow, "I have no doubt that you can. However, as of this moment, I can't say that I quite trust you yet."

Tansis sat up that, hopping to her feet and giving a small twirl as she all but danced over to where Cee sat taking up a chair next to her with the most darling smile she could muster, "I trust you! You've got such super pretty eyes! Not to mention a far better sense of humor than both of those snooty horned grumps combined."

"We're standing right here," Jarren growled, twitching irritably when Tansis waved her hand dismissively at him.

"Don't worry, you will soon enough" Cee answered simply, stretching her arms out above her head, and then reaching over and hugging her arms around Tansis's neck when her eyes were complimented, them seeming to glow even brighter. "awwww, I like your eyes too! Such a pretty shade of purple~!" She let out a little laugh, and then let go of Tansis, facing Valus once more. "I'm fine with waiting, just let me know when you feel like you can trust me enough to take care of your little problem!"

Tansis gave a giggle, her sweet little smile growing wider, "Thanks CeeeeCee," she cooed, straightening in her chair with a sigh, reaching back to lift up her pony tail so that it draped over the back of her seat, before leaning back with a comfortable little hum.

"Very well, I shall hold you to that. Now then, how about we do a little show and tell? A way to... get to know each other better." the informer suggested with a pleasant smile glancing from each of them in turn.

Cee clapped her hands together, a bright smile pasted all over her face, her eyes making her expression all the more lively, even though they looked ghostly and somewhat dead. "I just love show and tell! I'm in!"

The informer gave a pleased nod, "Wonderful. Jarren, why don't you go first?"

"Fuck no."

"Let me rephrase that, Jarren," and her eyes turned to the male, "Be polite towards our guest, and show her your ability. Now."

For a long moment the two had a staring contest, before Jarren's scowl, eased into a stubborn line. Though he still didn't look as though he was going to budge on his decision. Tansis released a devious little smile, reaching over to give Cee a little poke, waiting until she had the female's attention before whispering, "Watch this."

"Jaaaarren," the male's gaze turned towards the little dancer, as she batted her big ole light violet eyes at him, "Won't you pretty please show us your spinny thing? I think it's just so cooool, and I think Cee would like it to. Huh, Cee?" The circulatory troll blinked, all signs of irritation smoothed from his face, glancing between the two females, while Valus glanced over with a raised brow.

"I would love to see this spinny thing! Pleeassseee?" Cee begged, batting her own eyes and copying after Tansis' example, making her white eyes as big as possible while doing so.

Oh fuck, what is with these women and their damn eyes? "Fine ya damn leeches," Jarren growled, straightening up, hands going to his collar to make sure it was popped up properly, before he walked forward. He stopped when he came to the center of the small circle of chairs, un-clipping two small discs from the belt at his hip. With a silent huff he rolled his shoulders, closing his eyes just briefly, brows furrowing for just a moment as he seemed to be concentrating on something. Before he tossed the two discs in the air.

Immediately, they zipped to life, in a blink of an eye, doubling in size so that they took their proper form as over-sized razor sharp Frisbee's and struck away from their master, Jarren tucking his hands into his coat pockets. He controlled the spinning device, causing them to do several full circles around the group, both going in opposite directions, before having both discs spin around each individual female, tilting them vertical and horizontal sporadically as a personal test of control, before he summoned them back to him. The discs whistled, circling once around him, until they stayed in one spot, each disc hovering just inches from both of Jarren's shoulders. "Jarren Dammad, mah ancestuh was the royal fleets inventuh. Ah just have plans fer becomin' uh soldjuh though."

Cee's eyes went as wide as they possibly could once more, and would probably be sparkling if she actually had pupils and irises. "That's so cool~! I bet it's really an honor to have an ancestor with such a noble position!" She chimed, and then a look of sudden realization crossed her face. "oh whoops!" She sputtered, and then suddenly seemed to read under her shirt, lifting it up just enough to get into the pockets of her shorts, where she pulled out her cellphone and quickly typed in a number. "Makaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~ Library, find me, now" She stated simply in a cheerful tone into the phone, met back with a 'yes ma'am' and then she hung up, turning her attention over to Tansis now. "Show and tell time for you now? I'll go as soon as Maka gets here, because it'd be awfully mean to demonstrate on any of you guys"

Valus gave a nod that it would be just fine, as Cee jumped up from her seat with a giddy little giggle. She planted her hands on Jarren's chest and pushed him back, the proud little smirk that had found it's way on his lips, faded into a small scowl at the action. Though he complied, summoning his Frisbee's to each hand, and flicking them back to their smaller form. Tansis then took center stage, slipping off her heels and setting them to the side.

"I don't have any super cool mind abilities, I'm more of a troll with physical skill," and she winked, before from her waist, strapped to her upper thighs under that long frilled skirt, she pulled out two rods. Then twirling them between her fingers, she pivoted, and gave a spin, releasing the switch on the rods. Immediately, they extended into their ribbon-like whip form, twisting around her as she continued to spin, before she came to a halt, gave a bow, and with a simple flick of her wrists, allowed the rips to form a circle at her feet as she straightened, "My ancestor was one of the five Torturers, but suuuuch sweet little things bore me. I'm going to be a performer, Tansis Sevest, prima dancer, and show stopper!"

Cee clapped her hands together again, seeming very entertained with the little show. It was kinda funny how much alike her and Tansis were. It was like looking at an apple, a beautiful shade of red or green (however you preferred it) with a perfectly brown stem, straight and just the slightest bit lopsided to add that hint of personality, but just underneath that shiny exterior was a hord of rotten flesh, pulsing and rotting. "So cooooooool~ How About you Valus?"

As Tansis gave another small bow, retracting her weapon and giving this small skip back to her seat, Valus leaned just slightly forward, hands resting on her knees, "My abilities are more of a mental nature. I have an excelled mind, humans refer to it as a photographic memory. I can recall with near ninety-nine percent accuracy anything I have seen or heard. Though, I do dabble a bit in the sciences, looking for cures to certain types of... ailments. It's unfortunate, but I am the only one among my two companions who has decided to reclaim the position of their Ancestor. Valus Valarus, and I will be taking the roll as the next Informer for the royal fleet, under command of the Grand Highblood." Oh, of course there would be trials she would have to pass, but they hardly concerned her. Simply because she was aware of the requirements, as well as the fact that she easily could fit those selections. "My weapon... well, let's just leave that as a surprise shall we?"

"That's so cool! I actually plan on following my ancestor's role as well" Cee stated, standing up as she backed up and gave everyone a bow, a rainbow haired troll coming from the opposite side of her from around one of the shelves. "My name is Ceecee Ayers, my ancestor was known as two things, an actress with unfathomable talent, and a slightly darker persona that the high bloods knew as simply the 'Wretched Witch'. She was an assassin and a spy, of sorts" She stated simply as a beginning introduction, and then lifted her hand to the rainbow haired troll who had showed up, her lime colored eyes seeming lifeless and bored.

"And this is my moirail, her name is Maka Briana" She added, a bright smile on her face as Maka merely stared back, sweeping one of her multicolored braids from her face and over her shoulder. "You wanted me to come?" She asked simply, her voice just as dead as her expression. Cee nodded, "Yup! I needed someone to show them my abilities on, and since you think pain is pleasure, I figured it wouldn't be too big of a deal!"

"Very well" Maka replied, sighing a bit, and then holding out both of her arms, and locking her gaze onto Cee's eyes.

Cee smiled, her eyes seeming to shift for a moment, a faint glint of color escaping them, but gone so fast that it seemed as though it was never there in the first place. Maka let out a small gasp, her cheeks coloring themselves the same tone as her eyes as the flesh on her arms suddenly seemed to unravel, her skin ripping itself away from the muscles, the muscles pulling off the bones, standing in air as if waiting for a command.

"My ability is that I can control a person's flesh simply by looking at them, my ancestor was rumored to be able to turn herself into other trolls using this method, even able to change her blood color or alter the electrical signals of a troll's thoughts and brain waves to make them do whatever she wanted"

"Fascinating,"murmured Valus, following the line of sight from Cee to this Maka, and one could almost see the well oiled gears turning over the female's mind. Unhindered in the slightest, by the ability. Tansis on the other hand, went from her mouth forming and 'o' in amazement, to a brilliant smile coming from her face as she clapped her hands together once and tucked them under her chin, "Oh how beautiful! What a wonderful ability! I'm soooo jealous!"

Jarren was the only one who remained quite, face expressionless as he only glanced over the expertly carved state of Maka's arms, before looking away with a small grunt. Seeming to take quite the interest in the bookshelf next to him now.

Valus adjusted so that she was sitting more on the edge of her seat, "What a remarkable and useful ability, it would be curious if you could master that as well. Are you able to place the flesh back onto the bone as well?"

"I can only heal if the flesh is still attached, once it separates from the body, it dies" Cee responded simply, a bright smile on her face as she flicked one of her hands to the side, the flesh pulling itself from Maka's arms arching back towards her skin (It had been attached at the elbow still) and seeming to snake back into place, the tears between her skin flowing together like liquid and vanishing, as if her arms hadn't just been pulled apart at the seems. "if Me or someone else happened to loose an arm, though, I could help them regrow it. One of the draw backs, though, is that my ability can be 'addictive' if used too much on someone, it produces a certain feeling of ecstasy and pain, somewhat like a drug, and not having it used on you can also lead to a rather serious withdrawal" She added, though she didn't seem to be bothered at all by it as she took her seat again, eyes focused on Maka, who was rubbing her wrists and frowning.

"Maka! You should introduce yourself now! For a lowblood you sure are pretty interesting!"

Maka frowned, seeming somewhat off put by being around highbloods she didn't know. But if Cee had ordered her too... did she really have a choice? "My name is Maka Briana... I don't have any special abilities or anything like that" She stated simply, her mouth setting itself in a hard, straight line.

"Tell them about your ancestor~!"

The informer raised a questioning brow at the colorful female, though that deceptively calm smile had been replaced by an impassive frown. She simply sat there, waiting expectantly, but said no words.

Tansis on the other hand, seemed quite curious, as she leaned forward with her hands on her knees, "I think your moirail is absolutely adorable Cee! Soooo, what was your ancestor like Miss Maka?"

Maka just stared back at the highbloods, just that faint note of unease, but no other emotion trickling into her expression, until finally she sighed, giving in. "My ancestor was a subjuggulator, the lowest blooded one, known for painting her hair and clothes in the blood of those she killed" She stated simply, of course well aware that this would draw attention to her own multicolored hair and clothing.

And it did, as all three of the known highblood's eyes averted to the bright colors with curiosity. "Woooow! That's actually really cool!" cooed Tansis, wiggling back and forth in her seat, before pulling her legs up and hooking them comfortably under her in the Library's cushion-like chair.

"Pretty impressive too. T'e Subjugglatuhs are uh tough bunch. Ya don't fuck wit tem." Jarren finally spoke again, leaning his head back against the book shelf, brows knotted together curiously.

Then Valus spoke, "Indeed, it's actually quite curious. A good friend of ours ancestor was a subjuggulator. Perhaps you'd both like to meet him this evening? I've a scheduled a meeting to discuss something with him, and I would not be apposed to you two coming."

Cee smiled vibrantly, jumping up from her seat and hooking her arm's around Maka's neck, who simply stood there taking it with only the slightest roll of her lime colored eyes. "We would love to come with! I think it'd be so interesting for Maka to meet another Subjuggulator!" The look on Maka's face said elsewise, but she didn't seem like she was going to say anything in disagreement to the idea. Cee merely kept on smiling, letting out a little giggle as she closed those white, white eyes of hers. Ah, in just a few hours, she'd be able to meet this 'terminallyCapricious' and have him utterly unaware of who she was. She knew the voices wouldn't let her down.


	52. So what about the hole?

So about twenty minutes and four painkillers later, and Karkat found himself sitting on Gamzee's couch, his headache now only a dull throbbing (this more due to pain killers than anything else) with a cup of water in his hand as Gamzee went about... doing whatever the fuck he was doing. Looked like cooking, but Karkat... had little experience in that subject (rarely eating anyway and combining that with a habit to destroy whatever food he had a hand in making didn't fit together so well, it was like the kitchen of any household or living space just hated him). But he was pretty sure... that spreading flour and dough and various other ingredients all over the fucking place wasn't a normal part of the cooking process.

Seriously, how could anyone even make this huge of a fucking mess.

A thin layer of flour settled over the counters, patches of the tile floor, and yes, even on the cabinets. A light coating of the fluffy stuff laid across Gamzee's arms, and in small brushed on his face and in his hair. At one point he set the bowl with the batter down, and held his hand over the skillet, checking to see if it was radiating warmth, before with a satisfied hum, he came to one of the best part of making pancakes. The cooking portion.

Small doses of the batter were place on the heated skillet, the male whistling to himself as he waited until one side was cooked, before flipping the fluffy breakfast treat to cook on it's other side. A satisfied grin was on the male's lips, as the smooth scent of the butter milk treats wafted into the air, "Hey bro, you want some liquid gold on your fluffy miracle?"

"There is no way in hell I'm eating" Karkat answered simply, not even looking at Gamzee, but instead eying that huge mess he had made just... EVERYWHERE.

"You should brother, it'll help your head hammerings ease up on the slams. I'm putting sweet juicy fruit on it, get some wondrous hydration sprinkling through your veins. Growing happiness like star weeds," the Capricorn let a small laugh, as he set the first of two golden pancakes on a plate, picking up next the bowl of strawberries he had diced earlier, and laying them in an even spread over the top of the first. Then, he took the second pancake, and laid it on top of the first, effectively putting the strawberries in between the 'fluffy' miracles. "Last call for motherfucking golden liquid and whipping cream!"

Oh jegus christ why did that have to look so fucking delicious.

And how the hell did the pancakes actually come out looking okay after that horrendous mess? He frowned, staring at the pancakes and feeling his mouth water as his self control wavered at the fact that it'd help the hangover, because he didn't want to be popping those fucking pills all day just to get by. On top of that, he had recently fallen back into his habit of 'forgetting' to eat for days at a time, the last he could remember having an actual meal was that lunch where he freaked out at Gamzee, about a week ago now. He had eaten a bit during his hospital stay, he remembered that, not much but a little.

His stomach decided for him, giving a loud growl which shattered his self control, and he sighed. "Alright fine, I guess I'll have some fucking whipped cream"

Gamzee gave a pleased honk, shaking up a can of whip cream, before popping open the lid, and swirling the white fluffy substance over the top with that same goofy smile. It took him only a few more minutes to make his own pancakes, giving them the same treatment as Karkat's... but going a bit over-the top on syrup and whip cream. After a few more minutes forks were hunted down, and performing a slight balancing act, Gamzee entered his main room and handed the Cancer his plate with a broad "Edible blessings, and smooth happiness Karkat. Enjoy."

The indigo blood was about to plop down on the floor in front of the couch, when he suddenly jumped back up, "Oh shit! Forgot thirst quenchers. With an impatient hop from one foot to the other, he placed his plate on the arm of the sofa, and trotted over to the hole in the wall. Yeah, it was still there, it never stopped being there. Gamzee opened his somewhat battered fridge, pulling out a warm grape faygo, before returning back to his room. "You in the want of more rain drips Karkat?"

"Fuck no I'm not drinking any of your faygo" Karkat spat back, and didn't even bother telling the sopor brained fucktard to get something from his own fridge (because there was nothing in there, he hadn't even opened it and looked in the damn thing yet, so for all he knew it could be stuffed full of moldy food).

Though he did take the plate and poke around at it a bit, wondering if the pancakes really were as edible as they looked. Something in his locked up memories was reminding him that Gamzee had a bad habit of putting sopor slime in most of the food he made, and that probably wouldn't do Karkat much good since he didn't exactly like getting high off that shit. He just rolled his eyes at the thought, preformed a mental 'fuck it', and then used the fork to slice off a rather large bite, and shove it into his mouth.

Oh holy fuck it was like his tongue was having an orgasm.

He meant... It was okay... yup, that was what his internal thoughts were supposed to be.

Gamzee gave a laugh as he hopped over the back of his couch, deposited his faygo to a stand on the floor, before jogging back into his flour covered nutrition block. Though, there was also a trail of the white powder that outlined everywhere the highblood had walked, seeing as he was covered in the stuff. There was the sound of the sink running, a glass clinking, and the Capricorn returned, a somewhat teasing smirk on his lips as he placed the glass on the end of the couch his moirail sat, "Faygo don't rain Karkat. Though that would be the wickedest motherfucking thing that every hatched into existence. Rain liquid, water my brother. Turn on the flicker box if you want, or we can munch in sweet silent relief." Then he took his seat on the floor, pulled his plate down to his lap, and took three healthy bites of his topping over-loaded pancakes.

Karkat shot Gamzee a rather deadly look at the other male's comeback, but otherwise stayed silent (mainly because his mouth was full rather than being afraid of hurting the other's feelings). He did, however, pick up the remote near him, and flip the TV on, rather quickly, mainly because what happened this morning kept drifting into his head and even though Gamzee seemed incredibly comfortable, Karkat still felt awkward as all hell.

After Gamzee had finished eating his pancakes (really, it hadn't taken long at all. A ridiculously short amount of time), and gave his lips a lick clean before balancing the plate on his knees, he leaned back. Indigo eyes stayed on the TV, not really watching it, more so the colors and they way the lights moved and glowed on screen. Zoned, staring. Before quite suddenly, his head popped back onto the seat of the couch, puffing up a small cloud of flour, as indigo eyes peered up at Karkat, lips pierced thoughtfully. "Man bro, what are we going to get around to doing about that impromptu opening?"

Karkat swallowed what was in his mouth, before looking over at the hole in the wall and considering it for just a moment.

"I'm more fucking worried about my bathroom, that gogdamn fridge destroyed my toilet and part of my shower" This posed a serious issue, because it would be insanely uncomfortable to have to kinda... share a bathroom with Gamzee, they both seemed to have issues showing up at the wrong times anyway. He could only fucking imagine the kinds of stupid shenanigans that would go on with a goddamn hole in the wall by itself. He didn't want to tempt fate by telling Gamzee that he was going to be using his bathroom from now on. Fate seemed to like shitting on him recently, it seemed.

The Capricorn sat real still for a moment, staring at Karkat unblinking... thoughtful. Well, trying to be thoughtful. Right now his brain was still pretty mushy, and he was just shifting his hand through the sludge, attempting to pull out the right words and ideas he needed. Then he suddenly sat up and sneezed, sending a small cloud of flower hovering around the crazy haired form. Gamzee started to laugh but suddenly stopped, blinking owlishly, before turning back to Karkat with a grin, "I motherfucking got it! Until we can get your porcelain artifacts repaired, to keep happy virtues in tact, we could scribble up a schedule... or something and share my cleaning place. Get a fucking lock put on the door too. No more accidental blush moments."

Of course, the exact idea he didn't want to be implemented. "I don't think a schedule would work, but if it comes down to that, how about just learning how to knock before you go in?" It would take some adjusting to, but at least it wouldn't be a completely new habit to learn, just relearn. Most trolls lived alone, but he had lived with another for a while. Apparently anyway, he could only remember snippets of it.

"I guess you can use my fridge too, I haven't even looked in it yet, I mean, after being thrown through a fucking wall it can't work right anymore" The red blooded troll added, his gaze lingering on the hole.

"Yeah... poor cooling brother. We can ring the strong, blue-blooded hell bringer, see if he wouldn't mind giving fleshy assistance. Get my refriderating device off your shiny floor. But shit yeah, if you're not in the mind. Be like... fucking rooming mates, and I can get a try on some edible wonders." Gamzee turned his gaze forward, eyes tracing over the lights flickering across the television, thinking. Man, remembering to knock would be a bit tricky. Maybe he could write it down somewhere?

Karkat was gonna just assume that 'strong, blue-blooded hell bringer was Equius, mainly because of the strong thing. So, after finishing his pancakes faster than was probably good for his stomach, he stood up, crawling through the hole in the wall, and then leaving the bathroom and entering his own dorm, where he searched around and eventually located his phone.

It took a second to realize that 'bestest mewrail evurrr~!' was what Nepeta had put as Equius' contact name on his phone. At which point, he promptly changed it to the guy's actual name (he probably misspelled it but what the fuck ever). And then sent him a rather simple text.

"GAMZEE'S FRIDGE IS IN MY FUCKING DORM ROOM AND WE NEED YOU TO GET YOUR SWEATY ASS OVER HERE TO GET IT OUT"

"Hey best friend!" Gamzee shouted from his room, knees on the couch cushion now, his upper body draping over the back as he blinked at the hole Karkat at dissapeared through, "Flicker box got in the mention that we're all up about the chances for clouds descending on us in the next seven night cycles." There was a silence, as the Capricorn glanced over his shoulder, "Well... not motherfucking even more. Now it's all intruding on a sloppy make-outs show."

Karkat rolled his eyes, shoving his phone back where he had found it, and heading back towards the hole, crawling through it somewhat awkwardly, and going straight for the remote. Hell no he was not going to watch some sloppy make-out show. The only kind of make-outs he had any interest in watching were those in his romcoms, and those were not sloppy, they were totally romantic and perfect and fuck where was the damn remote? He swore he had set it down on the arm of the couch.

Gamzee, on the other hand, seemed more fascinated by the show than genuinely concerned. So while Karkat searched for something he was unaware of, he just sat there kind of watching it for a minute. Before, "Man, some of these motherfuckers are wicked good and got some seriously nice angles. But shit ain't got no feeling."

"That's the point of those stupid shows, it's all done for money or a chance to be on TV. There's nothing real behind it other than greed" Karkat spat back, rolling his eyes. Jegus fucking gogdamnit that remote seriously could not have just simply grown legs and ran off.

The indigo blood watched these greedy individuals for a total of one more minute. "Yeah, I can get my see all over that." Then Gamzee plucked the remote from where it had been sitting between him and the arm of the couch, and flipped through a few channels with a slight hum. Before he paused on one which, he didn't have no idea what it was about, but it sure had a lot of fucking colors on the screen.

Karkat continued looking for that fucking remote for a few more minutes before realizing that the channel on the TV had changed, looked at the screen (now on some stupid human kiddie show) and turned to glare at Gamzee, who had the remote this entire time.

Said Gamzee, glanced up as he felt the heat of a Karkat glare on him, and blinked, before giving his bro a somewhat confused smile... before he realized something. "Oh shit, wait. When you went through the throw hole, were you getting in electrical touch with Equius?"

"No Gamzee, I was contacting the kitty rescue squad to inform them that my pet was up a fucking tree and wouldn't come down" He answered in a tone that just dripped sarcasm, moving over to take a seat at the other end of the couch. Personally, he hated cartoons, just a bunch of flashing idiocy for stupid-brained wrigglers and humans. But it was better than the dating show, and it filled up the silence that would otherwise take over the area, so why not let it go? "Of course I called Equius, who the fuck else would I call?"

A few slow blinks came from the Capricorn then, as he simply stared at Karkat for a moment. Before he rather suddenly became mobile, crouching before jumping to his feet, stumbling just slightly as he nearly lost his balance. He set the remote Karkat's knee, and the next one could be aware of, Gamzee was in the bathroom, shuffling through his drawers. Someone seeing his face without his make-up for a few minutes was one thing, someone being in the room for an extended period of unknown time was a whole other. Just for the record, Karkat didn't classify as 'someone'.

Um... okay, so Gamzee just ran into the bathroom. Karkat stared at the door for a little bit, wondering what the fuck was wrong, but figured that if it was anything serious then something would have been said. Truth be told, he hadn't even noticed Gamzee didn't have his makeup on, he was just so used to seeing it that his brain just kinda... fixed what his eyes were actually seeing.

So he merely grabbed the remote off his knee, and began to mindlessly flicker through channels, looking for something interesting to watch.

When Gamzee returned, it was with his face painted as it usually was, as what he was comfortable with. Slightly lop-sided smile and all. He gave a light jog back over to the couch, jumped into the middle of it, and twisted around to sit comfortable and cross-legged amongst cushiony cushions. A pause before, "I wasn't in the know they had mewbeast rescue squads... I was in the think about getting a squeakbeast once."

"I think they're too much fucking work. Why get a fucking pet when we already have to take care of those stupid lusus?" Karkat responded, still flicking through the channels before giving it up, letting it run on a special about parasitic wasps.

"Yeah, but my Goatdad was all for taking care of his own motherfucking self. At least, he always seemed fine when he actually navigated back home. Kind of got fucking bored when he was away." Then Gamzee's phone dinged, and he fished it out of his pocket, and flicking it open, scanned over the text from Valus.

EI: I wilL bE readY tQ meeT yqU qutsidE thE theatre'S auditqriuM iN 2Q minuteS  
>EI: TansiS iS witH mE, aS welL aS A cquplE qF neW acquaintenceS<br>TC: AlRiGhT SiS, I'Ll nAvIgAtE YoUr wAy iN AlL Of a fEw tIcK-ToCk mInUtEs. : o)

And then Gamzee's head came back and rested on the back of the couch, to just... blink for a moment. Man, he didn't know what Valus wanted to talk about, but knowing her it'd be boring. Or, something he didn't wish to speak of at all.

Karkat just barely managed to stop the words 'wish I could remember what mine looked like' from coming out of his mouth, snapping his teeth down on his tongue rather quickly.

He did, however, lean over to investigate what was on Gamzee's phone, eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he could almost imagine that tone being said aloud. he didn't need any explanation on who that was, her manner of typing said enough. "You should probably get going, I'll go fetch Equius and have him move the fridge while you're off getting nagged to death"

Gamzee gave a laugh at that, "You're right brother. Keep her waiting too long, and she'll flip her tits and come fucking find me." he sat up, flipping his ringer device closed and slipping it into his pocket, before leaning over and giving his hair a quick shake, freeing it of the flour that had clung there. Then he jumped back up. Man, couch was getting all kinds of up-down time. "I'll see your badass self when I get back, if you're still chilling around." Then as he jogged for the door he called out over his shoulder, "Let our sweaty brother know I said hey!"

Karkat merely rolled his eyes, raising one hand to wave Gamzee off while staring at the TV, feeling somewhat bored as soon as the male left, the room feeling stagnant and empty. For a while, he merely watched TV, letting the minutes trickle on by at an insanely slow rate. Though his red colored eyes flickered over towards the kitchen a few times, and then towards the hole in the wall to his own room.

He wondered if it was worth going to get his contacts, his fear of his own blood being discovered was still there, but seriously, Tansis had to have fucking spread it all over school by now. What was the point in hiding it anymore if people already knew?

He mentally argued with himself like this for a while, before he gave in halfway, and escaped into his room to grab those sunglasses he had gotten from the hospital. He didn't want to those those fucking contacts into his eyes again, but he could at least use these obscurative pieces of shit-glass to hide his eyes and not be in pain. And once he had those firmly in place, he moved towards the kitchen, grumbling something about how he wasn't a fucking maid while he began to clean up.

* * *

><p>Cee had been humming quietly to herself, smiling vibrantly as she trailed behind Maka, who was diligently following Valus to their apparently predetermined meeting place near the theatre, when she suddenly stopped, eyes going wide for just a second as she glanced off to her right, whisperings vibrating in her ears.<p>

_This way... come... this way...red blood...delicious... this way_

A faint smile crossed her face, and then she quickly turned back towards Valus and Maka. "I gotta go grab something reeaaaaaal quick! Promise I'll be back as soon as I can, shouldn't take more than a few minutes!" She chimed, and then turned from the two, and began to run off before either could argue with her.


	53. Finally Found You

Valus stared after the retreating form of Cee for a moment, eyes curious, though she didn't comment. There was hesitation, before she glanced back at Maka, silent again, before walking on towards their destination. These two were a curiosity to be sure, though the colorful female behind her wasn't of enough interest to Valus, for her to actually bring any more words to attention, as she led the way towards the theatre. Though the two did share something in commen. The recognization of pain as a type of pleasure. However, the highblood had a feeling that their individual reason for that, was unique to themselves. The walk itself was rather short, Valus holding her head high despite the cold, as she climbed the small series of steps towards the theatre, and slipped through the double doors.

Immediately inside, outside of the doors to the auditorium itself, Tansis was waiting, bouncing eagerly on the balls of her feet as she saw the two female's enter. She all but danced forward to meet them, as the chill outside wind briefly penetrated the warmth. "There you two are! I've been waiting for what feels like forever!"

"Jarren is at the gym I presume?"

Tansis gave a nod to the Informer, smile pulling at her lips as she glanced from one to the other, before a small frown came on her face. "Awwww, where's Cee?"

"Apparently she forgot something, and will be joining us in a short amount of time." Valus sighed, crossing her arms in her own form or resignation at now having to wait for two certain trolls to arrive. "Tansis why don't you and Maka wait in the theatre. I'll ask Cee to accompany you if she arrives before Gamzee does. If there's a flip and he shows up before her, then it'll give me an opportunity to speak with him before we introduce him."

Tansis looked up to the rainbow troll with a smile, "Is that alright with you Miss Maaaaka?"

"I have no arguments"

Valus' gaze followed after the two she-trolls, as they passed through one of the several doors into the auditorium. Time passed, and the curved highblood was left alone to her thoughts, staring patiently at the doors that one walked through to enter the building. Waiting... and waiting... and waiting. Before a familiar set of long twisting horns came into view, climbing up the stairs and pushing through the glass doors. His eyes were on other things as he entered, but when they rested on Valus he jumped, a loud honk escaping his throat, before laughter bubbled from his lips.

"Man sis! You scared a motherfucking honk right out of my word hole."

Valus didn't respond, face expressionless as she waited for the male to come towards her all smiles and... why wasn't he wearing a shirt? "Gamzee Makara, why in the name of known universe, are you not wearing a shirt?"

Said Gamzee Makara blinked at Valus for a long minute, before looking down at himself, upper body bared to the world. There were even goosebumps on his arms and shoulders from where he had been exposed to the cold. Silence. Before, "Woah, guess my mind was taking sweet naps when I left. I was kind of under open door wonder, how the ice wind's intimate touches felt so fucking close."

Valus couldn't help it, she face-palmed.

After she had a moment to gather her thoughts, and irritations together, the highblooded female unbuttoned her own coat, slipping it silently off of her shoulders, before holding it out to Gamzee. The likes of which, just sort of stared at her for a moment. "Put it on, we have a new potential ally and her moirail here, and I would prefer it if your were marginally presentable whenever you are introduced."

Gamzee stared at her for a few seconds more, before he shrugged,"Sure thing sis," then accepted the coat, slipped it on, and buttoned up the warm article of clothing without any more argument than that, shoving his hands in the pockets with a amused smile when the task was complete. "I got my see that you're the only motherfucker present. That mean we're having talk time before social time?"

When Valus nodded, the indigo blood gave a small yawn, walking over to one wall and leaning against it, adjusting until he was comfortable. When everything was situated and Valus had walked over to stand in front of him, he smiled and gave a nod to indicate that he was ready.

A slow in take of breath was his only warning.

"As you did not specify to what extent you have learned of the things I have discovered, I am currently operating under the assumption that you know everything. Just to be sure, however, that we are on the same level of understanding, I shall be specific as to what precisely I know. First, I know that Karkat's blood color is a... neon red as Tansis said. I am also aware of what that blood color means. Gamzee, do you understand precisely how big of an impact Vantas' bloodline is? Do you remember what the Sufferer did! He was able to unite the lowbloods, gain both their influence, and loyalty, and turn them against us! He alone started a war, until our ancestors were able to find the cretin and put an end to him. Even then, do you remember how long Signless lived even though his shackles were set to boiling temperature on the imperial flogging jut? Do not forget the role the Grand Highblood played in his demise as well. It was he that issued the final sentence! With the support of the Condesce and her sea dwellers at that. Despite that, his blasphemous words still reached out, and even to this day, though they do it in secret, the elder highbloods are still finding followers of his speech!"

Gamzee stayed silent through all of this, watching as the female before him began to pace. He kept that lazy smile in place, but the look in his eyes was different. Made his face just look... off.

"So I pray you can understand my displeasure at finding out your intentions for continuing a pale relationship with the male. Given, in particular, to the very connection you have by your bloodlines. And the choice you yourself have made." She stepped closer then, voice going low so that it passed as a whisper only the two of them could hear, "I know you remember the tome the Grand Highblood left for you, what he wrote there. The Sufferer told his followers before he passed, that another Signless would come. He did not say his descendant, did not say his bloodline would continue. He said specifical another Signless would come. Another one who would bare intentions of over throwing the highbloods and demolishing the hemospectrum."

"You're making assumptions Sis." Gamzee finally spoke, "Karkat hasn't got in the mention any intention like that. Besides, if he did get such a thought in his think pan. Would it really be so grumption?"

Valus gave a look as if he had slapped her. "Of course it would! Gamzee, there is a reason why we are separated by blood color. A reason why some have been born of higher rank! Highblood's are powerful, but we are not invincible. If we didn't have this system, this level of power, who's to say they would not try to kill us all! Our ability to instill fear, and insecurity, is how we have stayed alive. If one's numbers are enough, even the most powerful of adversaries... even the most powerful of highbloods," and she looked directly into Gamzee's eyes then, "Will fall. Allow me to simplify this further. If the Signless rises again, and is successful this time in amassing the lowbloods to his cause, then it will be you, the Grand Highblood, heir to command over all highbloods, Lord Subjuggulator and ruling alliance to the Empress and her sea dwellers, who will fall."

Gamzee was silent.

"This relationship-red, pale, I don't care! It needs to stop. I hardly think you need to worry about his safety, no highblood here will harm him for fear of slighting you. And once our education here has ended, you will no longer have the leisure of worrying over him, as it will be time for you to take your place."

A long silence. "Well Valus, that's not your motherfucking choice to make. Who I fill in what quadrant, that's for my pan to decide. I'm not leaving Karkat's shadow until I've got no choice in my hands. That's all I'm getting my speak on about that matter," and when Valus parted her lips to object, Gamzee released an animalistic snarl, "You're not my damn moirail Valus Sevest, and unless shit performs a metamorphosis, you've got no motherfucking right to the thoughts leaving trails in my brain." Silence followed, the sudden harsh words echoing down the empty hall that passed in front of the auditorium doors. "Is that all you wanted to get floated from your think pan?" His voice was quieter, more controlled, as he watched Valus with unblinking eyes.

The female pressed her lips tight, straightening up further, before she spoke again, "I was curious when you asked me to look at the names of any new students coming in. After you went on your rage, I used my sources to hack into your computer and read the logs containing the conversation with this person, this TenaciousObsession."

* * *

><p>It only took about five minutes, thank gog. The layer of flour over the kitchen wasn't all that thick and it really only took a quick whiping down with a rag to get it all off. He also put the dirty dishes in the sink and did some other things that required cleaning, and by the end of it all, he felt like a fucking maid or something. Seriously. He was a moirail, his only duty was to make sure Gamzee didn't go fucking crazy not act like his matesprit and clean this pigstye up. Jegus christ, sleeping in the same recuporacoon, much less the same room, dancing with him. Fuck this was so stupid, he felt his face heating up again just remembering the most recent events concerning Gamzee. Honestly he wasn't sure why he even liked being around Gamzee, normally someone like that would make him want to bash his head against the wall, still did here and there.<p>

He forced himself to stop cleaning, mentally berating himself for doing something like that, and instead went into the bathroom, taking a very quick, only minutes long shower to get all of the sopor slime out of his hair and then moving into his room to get new clothes, just a pair of black cargo pants and a simple T-shirt. He only dried off his hair enough for it to not drip water everywhere, and then figured he might as well go and see if Equius was on his way or not. So, barefoot and all, he moved towards the door, only to stop, seeing it open on it's own.

He thought, for just a split second, that a draft must have come down the hallway and pushed the door open, oh gog how he would have preferred it had been that. But no, there was someone standing there, toothy grin plastered all over her face, white eyes glaring him down, making every muscle in his body tense up, freeze.

His own eyes went wide, his skin becoming a much more ashen tone of grey than normal, his heart nearly stopping in his chest, giving various awkward thuds against his ribcage, as if it had to remember how to beat correctly. His pupils shrank, becoming tiny pinpoints in a sea of red and yellow. Oh gog, oh gog oh gog oh gog.

A thousand images flashed through his vision, blood, sweat, screaming, pain.

_He was on his stomach, face pushed into the ground as a knife slid through the flesh of his arms, grating large chunks of meat from his body, tossing them to the side as if they were broken toys, and there was red, red red red, red and black, everywhere he looked. Blood and Darkness and Pain and Screaming._

He began to hyperventilate, taking a step backwards as that figure came towards him, his arms and legs feeling as if they were made of jelly.

_He was kneeling now, arms forced behind him and up above his head, the skin on his wrists melted and fused together, forming their own knot to keep him tied, his legs crumbled beneath him, crooked and bruised. SHE smiled from above, leaning forward on her sludge hammer as she opened her mouth to say something, but then, just like before, the image was gone._

The girl was in front of him now, she had backed him up against the wall, hands reaching out, and plucking the shades off his face, revealing his terrified eyes. He felt his stomach lurch, he wanted to throw up, he wanted to die, to crawl, to writhe, anything to get away from her.

Cee smiled, tossing the sunglasses to the side as that sickening grin spread itself over her cheeks.

"It's been such a long time, hasn't it, Karkat?"


	54. Black and Red

You guys will hate us for this chapter XD

It's rated M for a reason

_-Eren S._

* * *

><p>Karkat jerked his head back, feeling the back of his skull hit the solid wall behind him, but it didn't hurt, his whole body felt tingly, like it had gone numb, turned to jello. He couldn't move, couldn't breath, his mind went blank at the sight of the person in front of him, just a continuous circle of mind numbing fear.<p>

She smiled, "It's so nice to see that my appearance still has such an effect on you, I haven't exactly forgiven you spraying cleaning solution in my face, took a while to heal that, hurt like hell too" She chimed in a tone that was far too sweet and innocent, leaning forward, too close for comfort, too close, fuck, even if she was miles away, it was still too close.

He merely stared back at her, still finding himself unable to breath, unable to move, his body was petrified.

_They were sleeping upstairs, that was where the bedroom was, most likely they were sharing his fucking bed even, good, he'd make sure they died together in that bed. _

_He snuck out of the room, stumbling, due to the pain, towards the kitchen. At once he began to work on the stove, turning all of the gases on, but not the fire, letting that sickening stench fill the room, and began to giggle quietly as he worked. _

_He went to the cupboards next, grabbing various cleaning solutions and what not, and shoving the metal cans into the microwave, setting it for as long as it would go. He wasn't sure how long it'd take those cans to explode. So he should hurry quickly and-_

"_FUCK" He knew it was the female, she screeched, lurching at him from behind, and he didn't turn to look at her. One look in the eyes and it'd be over, he'd be back in that room, bleeding and being kept alive only to be played with. He grabbed one of the cleaning solutions, pulling off the cap, and whipped around. She was right there, and he sprayed it right in her face. _

_She screeched, stopping as she closed her eyes and her hands flew up to her face, and he took the chance, elbowing her in the stomach and forcing her to the ground, and laughed again. Oh god, it felt good to finally do that. He was laughing, uncontrollably, as she screamed and writhed, the skin around her eyes starting to form welts from the corrosive substance, wow, he had never thought it would do stuff like that to a troll's skin. He didn't care; he just raised one foot, and proceeded to kick her in the stomach, in the face, as many times as he could, before someone tackled him away from her, the male, pinning him to the ground, grabbing at one of his arms, but before he could get the other one, Karkat lifted it up and slammed the can he was still holding into the side of his head. A second hit and he knocked the troll off balance, rolling them so that Karkat was sitting on his chest now, a crazed look on his face. Those hands reached up to stop him, but before they could, he was smashing the can repeatedly into the male's face. _

He wanted to throw up, and even gagged a little, as the memory came to him, perfectly, screamingly clear. He squeezed his eyes shut, a whimper escaping from his throat as hundreds of other images flew through his mind, pulsing, writhing, blood, screaming, laughing, pain, pounding. Oh gog, oh gog oh gog oh gog no no no no no no nonononono NO NO NO NO.

She drew back, laughing as he dropped to the ground, shivering, so cute when he was terrified~. "Oh don't worry little lowblood, I wouldn't end the game so quickly after it started, just a little bit of fun, and a warning" She said in a light, sing song voice, and then leaned down so that her face was mere inches from Karkat's, her lids falling down over those glowing white eyes halfway. "You will do whatever I tell you, go wherever I tell you, say whatever I tell you to say. You won't scream if I tell you to be quiet, no matter how much it hurts. And you won't tell anyone or try to run away, or disobey me, because one little mistake, and I wonder which of your friends it is I'll have to take and make an example out of. Now, do you understand me?"

He nodded slowly, the shaking getting worse.

She smiled, drawing back and clapping her hands together, "perfect~! Now that we are on the same page, you stay right here, and don't make any noise at all, or it'll just be worse for you~" She sang out again, and then suddenly opened her eyes wide and stared down at him.

It was like an electrical shock ran through his body, a mixture of pain, with the barest touch of pleasure, a feeling that made his stomach reel and do flips in his body, that made it feel like maggots were writhing underneath his skin.

"My first surprise, is that I've gotten a lot better at flesh bending since last time we met~!"

He tried to scream, it hurt so bad, but it was like his vocal cords closed up. He faintly heard her laughing, repeating her order for him to stay silent, and he realized he couldn't breath. He tried to breath in, but nothing happened, just his lungs and throat straining as the pain ripped through his stomach and chest. He collapsed onto his side, writhing, before he realized his legs had gone numb, and wouldn't move.

He looked, he wished he didn't, but he did.

The skin on his stomach and chest, down to his legs and lower back, had peeled away, showing raw muscle beneath, which writhed and twisted, ripping away from his body and landing in thick chunks on the ground. His spinal cord had ripped out of his back, still connected, but not to his legs, isntead, it waved in the air like a strange tail emerging from his upper back, and from the skin that had ripped apart so it could get out, red blood poured down the raw muscle and skin, dripping onto the carpet. She smiled, walking towards him, and shoving the sole of her left foot against the bare flesh of his stomach, oh gog it hurt, but the pain barely registered compared to everything else. He was pushed onto his back, wanting desperately to screech, but still unable to draw in enough air. She kneeled next to him, mindful to not get any of the blood on her clothes, and set her hand on the muscles of his stomach, and then dug her fingers into them, ripping them apart, and shoving her hands into his organs. Oh gog, he could feel her hand, scratching, clawing, ripping, he wanted to scream, scream until his lungs dried up and died, scream until someone came to make her stop. Scream because it hurt so bad that it couldn't be real. He could see his own heart speed up, beating erratically, struggling for oxygen rich blood to pump.

And then she removed her hand, smiling as she pulled it up to her face, and dragged her tongue down her palm, making a clear line through the blood down her palm. She laughed, and stood up, flicking her blood covered hand to the side, and watching as she forced his organs to repair themselves, for his muscles to go back into position and reattach, for the skin that hadn't disconnected itself to reconnect, and for new skin to grow back where it had fallen off before.

Except for the blood and pieces of skin and flesh staining the carpet, it was as if nothing had ever happened. His body felt sore and bruised, even though it looked perfectly fine. He merely lay there, in pain and taking in massive gulps of air as he lay in the flesh and sewage of his own body, his eyes closed shut, his limbs shaking again. And when he opened his eyes, Cee was gone, and he wondered if she left. For just a second, he dared to imagine that it had all been some sort of psychotic illusion, but the blood and flesh told him otherwise, it was real, real. Too real to comprehend what had just happened. He could feel his entire body shiver, he wanted to stand up, to run, but he couldn't force himself to move, only sit there like a fucking idiot until she reappeared, something long and shiny in her hands, a knife.

"You know how much I just hate scars, I like working with a blank slate, gives me more room to... decorate" She stated simply, that smile growing over her face as she came closer with that knife, he scooted away, and hit the wall. She got too close, and grabbed his throat, twisting him around with a strength that she really shouldn't have, and slamming his face against the wall. She twisted the knife in her free hand, and used it to cut a long line down his shirt, revealing his bare back, covered in blood, but otherwise seemingly unharmed, except for that scar that ran down the one side of his back. The burns he had gotten when he decided it would be more fun to stay and kill her matesprit rather than run away from his house about to explode.

She stabbed the knife into his shoulder, slamming his head into the wall each time he screamed too loudly, and began to carve around the scar, not botheirng to be careful as she cut off large chunks of flesh. It took several minutes, she went slowly, dragging it out as long as she damn well pleased, until his shoulder was nothing more than a bloody mess of flesh and bone, the scar completely carved away. She smirked, digging her fingers into the wound and watching him squirm, again slamming his head into the wall each time he got too loud, and then finally turned him around and healed it, leaving no trace of the wound, or scar, behind.

She dropped the knife on the floor, smiling as she took a step back. "I think that's enough for now, can't get too carried away, I have some friends to go visit~!" She stated, again in that sickeningly sweat voice as she finally let go of him, watching him sag to the ground, hyperventilating. "Oh, and, clean this mess up before anyone sees, wouldn't want anyone to get hurt because they found out, would you?" She questioned, that smile still on her face as she went into his bathroom, turning on the shower and using it to clean her hands off, not caring that the water pooled onto the floor thanks to it's broken state, tinted ever so slightly red, and then she left, leaving him alone in the room.

Ten minutes later, and Karkat finally managed to calm down enough to get up off the floor, though this wasn't saying much. He was a complete mess, caught between crying and laughing as he used the broken shower to fill up a large cup of water and use it to get the blood off the walls and mix in with the blood. Picking up those pieces of flesh had been the worst, he had thrown up while doing that, and couldn't stop until his stomach was empty, leaving even more red, now mixed with half digested pancakes and bile, all over the floor.

He believed her, if someone could control flesh like that, just by looking at you, that meant that she could cripple you before you could even pull out your weapons, stop your heart and kill you before you could even move. If he told someone, or they figured it out, they'd try to make it stop, and they'd die, and he didn't want anyone to die. But he didn't want to have that happen to him again, please no.

"I... I can't get it out" he sputtered, red tears starting to collect at the edges of his eyes as the full weight of the situation slowly came crashing down on him. He scrubbed harder at the blood, starting to breath unevenly again as those red tears slid down his face, mixing with the soap and water. He started to laugh, the noise high pitched and hysterical. And then he stopped, an idea coming to mind.

He stood up, used the clean water he had left to wash the blood off himself, and stumbled through the hole in the wall into Gamzee's room, searching wildly until he found what he was looking for, the same paint he had been using to cover the walls just a few days ago. He grabbed a can of white paint, brought it back into his room, and splashed it all over the blood, and the wall, for good measure, covering up the red even though it made a huge mess, and covering up the smell with a faint chemical odor. He got down on his hands and knees, no longer laughing, but just a dead look on his face as he rubbed the paint into the carpet, making sure it got everywhere and covered up everything, and then stood up, staring at the splotches of white somewhat blankly, his hands shaking, tears still running down his face. His hands jerked up to his head, twisting into his hair and pulling as he began to shake, and then couldn't stand it anymore.

He double bagged the bloody, torn shirt and the pieces of skin and flesh, dumped the rest of the paint upside down into the garbage can to mask the color and smell, and then crawled back into Gamzee's room, heading straight for the bathroom.

He turned the hot water on full blast, and then sat down, curling his knees up against his chest and burying his face into his knees, hands curling themselves back into his hair as he didn't even bother getting undressed. And even though the water was scalding hot, leaving angry marks on his skin where it was burning, he shivered as if he were freezing cold, sobbing uncontrollably.

The water came off him mixed with blood and paint.

* * *

><p>"TenaciousObsession. I have not been able to trace any track or trail of this entity. However, based on the psychological profile I have been compiling, I've come to multiple conclusions. First, I agree with your assumption that this being is a female. Her writing style and way of text speech indicates as much. Based off of that as well, I have concluded that she is a highblood. Though whether she is of land or sea, I have not yet deduced. Further investigation has led me to conclude something. The type of intelligence she has displayed, does not demonstrate any technical capabillities. Meaning that I don't believe she would be able to enter this University without being detected, nor, would have been able to cover data trails... without help." Valus turned from Gamzee then, taking a few steps away, one hand rising to press thoughtfully to her lips, the other wrapping about her waist.<p>

"This is not to say that she herself is incompetent, just that she has not hinted or shown any skill in things involving electronics and computers. Far from a lack of intelligence, she seems to be quite adept in reading those she speaks with, able to find what button to precisely push to gain a response. Though I have to admit, with you personally Gamzee, it's not hard to do. Do not glare at me like that, if you think about it, you know it to be true. You're more protective of Karkat than I imagine his lusus ever was, and I can garauntee she knows that, and will use it against you. The only advantage right now, that I can see you having against her, is that she doesn't know of your rank... nor does she know what you are capable of. Unfortunately, the same can be said for her. Unless you can get your beloved moirail to tell you more, which I doubt it since he still is apparently suffering from memory loss."

Gamzee was silent for a long time, eyes turned towards the ceiling as the worlds digested in his think pan. Churning over each other, comprehending, planning. Before he looked down, dark indigo and light indigo eyes connecting, silent thoughts passing through both of their think pans. Before Valus small twitch of the lips, and a small nod, "That is all that I have confirmed so far. I have some theories, but they require more data to solidify."

"Thanks sis, I appreciate the mental administrations you're putting to work." As Gamzee spoke, he closed his eyes for a moment, letting out a slow breath, before those lids opened, and one could almost see them grow more distant, more hazed, as that easy smile pulled back over his lips, "Actually, this talk reminded me, I gotta text a bro later, and apologize."

"Who?" Valus paused after a moment, mentally reviewing their conversation, and recally the only other person she mentioned in it, "Captor? Oh yes, you attacked him. He is tolerable for a lowblood, though I still don't like him."

Gamzee laughed, "You don't like any color below blue sis."

The faintest smile, twitched at the corner of her lips, "True," before the sound of a door opening, brought both of their attentions towards the entrance to the theatre building.

Cee skipped through the door, humming to herself as she popped a butterscotch candy into her mouth, a bright smile plastered all over her face as she opened those bright white eyes of hers and spotted Valus. She gave the highblood a quick wave, and then trotted over. "Valus~! You have to try these candies! They're so yummy!" She chimed, bouncing up and down like a hyper child with the tiny bag in her hands, an excited look on her face. And then she blinked, turning that gaze towards Gamzee, a questioning smile still plastered all over her face as she just stared, and then finally it was like that light bulb in her head went off. "oh! Is this your friend? He can have some too if he wants!"

Valus gave a blink, brows raised, though that small smile stayed on her lips, "I wouldn't mind trying one. Thank you for the offer. And yes Cee, this is my friend," she spoke, holding out one hand to accept the to try her 'candies'. She paused then, glancing behind her at Gamzee, who was watching them silently, before he took a step forward. Relaxed and lazy smile slipped comfortably over his face, and Valus felt a mental sigh come over her, though in physical appearance nothing changed.

"Hey motherfucker, I'm Gamzee. Nah, I'm chill with the sweet treats, already ate some miraculous things before relocating here. You the new blood I'm supposed to be makin social acknowledgements with?"

Cee smiled just about as wide as was possible, dropping one of the golden-brown candies into Valus's palm, before turning to Gamzee, and smiled at him too. "It's nice to meet you Gamzee, my name is CeeCee! But I prefer just Cee" She stated, introducing herself properly at Mr. Grape Jelly. "And kinda~! There's my bestest moirail ever too! uhh..." She glanced around, finally noticing that Tansis and Maka seemed to be missing. "Awwww, where did she run off to?" She whined, disappointment plastering itself all over her face.

"Don't fret, she is in the auditorium with Tansis," Valus responded, giving a nod of thanks as she accepted the sweet treat, popping into her mouth absentmindedly. She fell somewhat silent as the taste came over her tongue, and small color came to her cheeks.

"Wow, you got into education land with your diamond partner? Wicked music little Cee sis, that's some serious blessings there if I ever got my listen on one." Gamzee smiled, tucking his hands into the coat of Valus' pocket, hazed eyes focusing on and off of Cee. Though, there were moments of coherency that came and went, as he glanced up... before back down again. "Prayers of thanks, sis."

"Shall we go join them now and finish introductions properly?" Valus suddenly spoke, face composed with just the barest hint of a smile on her lips, as her hand sweeped out and gestured towards one of the many rows of doors that led into the auditorium.

Cee giggled a bit, sending Gamzee a childish smile as if she wasn't just tormenting one close to him only minutes ago. Fitting perfectly into plan, oh how delicious~.

"Lead the way~!" She intoned, her voice only gaining a new measure of cheerfulness to it.

Gamzee glanced over at Valus, didn't say anything, just looked, and with a silent nod, she stepped forward and led the way. As was typical, after they passed the first set of doors, there was a second right after, before a massive room opened up before them. The floor, sloped downwards at three different angles, leading to a large oval stage, it's curtains drawn back and as no production was currently under construction. Though set pieces of multiple kinds did decorated it's wooden floor. Near the front, at center-house, sat the two sought after she-trolls. One talking rather excitededly about the stage, the second sitting quietly.

At the sound of the door, Tansis, glanced up, brilliant smile pulling at her lips as she waved them over, "There you guys are! I was starting to get worried you'd gone and gotten yourselves lost!"

Maka stood up, the slightest bit of annoyance in her gaze from having to listen to Tansis, but she had kept her composure like a pro, walking over towards the group, giving only the quickest look towards Gamzee, blinking a bit as if she seemed to recognize him from somewhere, and then merely focused her gaze on Cee, standing before her moirail. "Did you get what you needed?"

Cee nodded, "Yup~!" She answered simply, that smile still on her face, but Maka understood the hidden signals there, and merely averted her eyes, standing aside quietly as she felt no need to introduce herself.

"Now that we are all present Cee... Maka, this is our friend-" "And boss man!" Valus gave a half-hearted glare at Tansis' little chime in. The likes of which, just giggled lightly and jumped up to do a twist and come to a stop beside Cee, all friendly smiles and happiness. Gamzee just stayed with that same, lazy, lop-sided grin, expression not changing even slightly, almost as if he hadn't heard the comment... which was entirely possible. "Of sorts," Valus commented, a little haughty at being interrupted, before continuing, "Gamzee Makara, our friend that, like your color infested moirail, had a subjuggulator ancestor."

At that comment, Gamzee's eyes finally found the rainbow troll... and a few things clicked into place before, "You've got ancient bloodlines amongst the honk masters?" Hadn't he seen a rainbow troll before? Thoughts drifted through his think pan, multiple things running there, before he just simply shrugged it off for now. Mostly because there were quite a few rainbow colored images that popped up of various trolls. "Motherfucking wicked bro. Never met another of the happy lineage before."

Maka nodded towards Gamzee, her expression never wavering from it's indifferent state. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Makara" She stated simply, "And yes, I do" Though, truth be told, Maka had no interest in following her ancestor's footsteps. She had no intention of dying, and every intention of following her obscure talent for computers and robotics.

A small silence ensued. Before, "Nice," and that smile on Gamzee's lips grew a few fractions wider, as if that response was more than he could have asked for.

"Soooo, guys! I was thinking maybe we could go get something to eat? Welcome our new friend and her moirail to the University!" Tansis piped up, hooking her arm around Cee's with a small giggle, her violet eyes bright and excited about the prospect. "Doseinn told me there's a n-"

_All the worlds began colliding,_  
><em>On a back-drop of bluuue.<em>  
><em>Blue Lips,<em>  
><em>Blue Veins.<em>

"Oh shit! Hold up sisters and brother, my ringer's notifying of a strong motherfucker's call," and just like that, Gamzee turned away from the group, dipping his hand into his pants pocket to pull out his phone, answering it with a short series of happy honks.

"Forgive me for disturbing you highblood."  
>"Nah, it's all chill brother, what can I up and do ya for?"<br>"Oh. Well. It appears that Vantas has locked himself in your abulation trap. He has refused to open the door and is not answering. It is, quite concerning."  
>"Shit, why didn't you just all up and give the door some tough love?"<br>"I couldn't bring damage to your property. That would be exceptionally inappropriate, just as is the... rather large hole in your wall. You will fix that."  
>"Yeah bro, we've already got a wicked plan in motion. Look, just hold down the motherfucking command center, I'll be right over."<p>

At that, Gamzee hung up the phone, and turned to the gathered highbloods plus one lowblood, smile still there, but brows knotted together thoughtfully. "Sorry motherfuckers, I have to abscond, got some close to my vascular pump business that just flickered into view." Valus went quiet, but she didn't conceal the irritated glare she sent the Capricorn's way. Because, oh yes, she could easily figure out who exactly that call had been about. Tansis on the other hand, gave a small pout, "Awwww, that's too bad GamGam."

Gamzee gave a wave, turned to jog off, but stumbled to a stop as he realized something. Hands worked fast, button after button, until he quickly shrugged Valus' coat off, and tossed it to the female, not casting a second glance as he took off shouting, "Thanks for keeping me proper sis!"

Valus, just stood there, silently fuming, as her coatc had landed on top of her head, and was hiding her expression.

Tansis on the other hand, laughed and gave an awed clap, "Wooow! That's definitely a ten point toss!"


	55. I Feel Sick

Equius gave an exasperated sigh, extending his arm to carefully set his reinforced cell phone on the edge of Gamzee's TV stand. This whole situation had been rather unexpected. It had been Nepeta who had noticed his phone's light flashing, signaling that he had received a text message, as they left the cafeteria together. Honestly, he had been quite surprised to find that it was Karkat that had sent it. The blueblood had been about to ignore it, and go help after his planned outing with his moirail, but she had insisted he went before-hand. Help their old friends, rebuild bonds, or some nonsense like that. Equius had tried to tell her no, explaining he would go after they had returned. But she had been persistent, and in the end, he had caved in to her demands. Which was how he came to be here, now. Standing in the Grand Highblood's room, staring between a giant hole that led to Vantas' dorm, and the bathroom that said mutant-blood currently occupied. He was starting to doubt the accuracy of the quadrant the Cancer and Capricorn shared.

Silently at first, he approached the door to Gamzee's bathroom, and cleared his throat. Well, the indigo blood was on his way, so he supposed he would try again. It would not do for the higher highblood to arrive and be under the assumption he had not attempted to be of assistance. He didn't knock, for fear of breaking the door, or even test the handle for the same reason. "Vantas, the amount of time spent in that room has surpassed normal acceptable limits. You will exit." A pause, "Vantas?"

Karkat didn't answer, just reached his hand back, ignoring the pain of the burns on his back from the heat of the water, eyes utterly dead to the world, and turned the water on higher, blocking out the blue blood's voice, and returning to the position he had been in before, legs pulled up to his chest, back hunched.

At least now he had a towel draped over his shoulders and head, like he was trying to hide himself from the world. He didn't want to talk, didn't want to move, if he stayed here, nothing would be able to get him. It was a nice little delusion, and probably the only thing helping him keep hold on his sanity.

He moved, just the smallest bit, a part of his mind becoming aware of the pain of the scalding hot water, and instantly he regretted it. He pitched forward, vomiting all over his legs and feet, several times, and then dry heaved for a while. He almost collapsed, but managed to stop himself, eyes squeezing shut as he wriggled in discomfort. He felt disgusting and sore, but he couldn't move enough to clean it off, not if he wanted to do it all over again. He almost laughed, staring at the bile covering his legs, but managed to stop himself, closing his eyes and refusing to think about it.

No answer.

Of course.

Equius felt irritation creep under his skin, a fresh sheen of sweat appearing as brows furrowed together behind his cracked shades. He was quite tempted to, as Gamzee had said, give the door some tough love and drag the lowblood out of the accursed tile room. But again, he was hesitant to do damage to the indigo-bloods property. So he simply stood there, arms crossed and silent as he waited, passing time by looking over the paint covered walls and floor, taking small confusion in particular, to the white covering one particular part of the room. For the mere fact that it was white, and didn't match the otherwise colorful decor that one could nearly say the Capricorn was known for.

"Man, why are my scent glands detecting fresh paint?"

Equius glanced up as the room's owner appeared, brows rising at the male's lack of upper body clothing, but otherwise saying nothing. Though he did tense a bit as he bit back a comment. "Hello Makara."

"Sup bro. Still in keep with hefty muscular systems?"

"Inevitably."

"Wicked. My moi brother still in the porcelain kingdom?"

"Yes, he has refused to speak or acknowledge my presence. It is a bit... maddening. Also, why is there a hole between your room and Vantas'?"

"Man, that's kind of a long motherfucking story. I'll play out the tale for you later. For now, I'll take the proverbial wheel from here. In the mean time, feel free to go ahead and be using your mad lifting abilities to relocate my cooling unit back into my nutrition block."

"Very well... wait. Would that suggestion be classified under a variety of command?"

Gamzee raised a brow, blinking at Equius for a moment before, "...sure? Whatever makes you happy motherfucker."

"Oh. Okay. I will go move your refrigerator immediately then." and with that the muscular troll was off to do as he was told, leaving a somewhat confused Gamzee behind. Though once the other was distracted going about the reason he had been called over to begin with, the Capricorn lazy smile fell just slightly, half-lowered eyes directing towards his bathroom door. Something had happened. He wasn't sure what precisely that was, but something was wrong. The indigo stepped up to the door and gave three firm knocks, to be sure they could be heard over the water.

"Best friend... Karkat. You all up and in there bro?"

Karkat's red eyes gaze flickered towards the door, staring at it blankly as he started to come out of his self induced 'trance' of sorts. He still didn't move that much, just a tiny bit to pull the soaking wet towel further down over his face, as if he were hiding under it.

"...I'm just a little sick"

Well, that wasn't necessarily unusual. Karkat had been known for getting sick frequently before. Man, he hoped the magical pancakes hadn't upset the male's stomach. Though, Gamzee's brows knotted together a little bit, mostly because the Cancer's voice sounded... off. Fuck though, maybe that was the whole sickness messing with his tone?

"Anything I can do for you brother?" A loud thump, caused Gamzee to glance over his shoulder away from the door, as Equius had picked up his refrigerator and swung it around a little to fast, knocking down another small portion of the wall hole's edges, a heavy sweat coming off his brow.

"M-my deepest apologies highblood."

"S'all good brother, shit's already in the break anyway. Just keep in the careful when going through the nutrition block entrance. Be all soft touch like a freshly made red heart motherfucker."

"That is a rather vulgar comparison."

Though Gamzee apparently hadn't heard him, as he turned back towards the bathroom door, tilting his auditory ducts against the wooden surface as if that would help him hear through the barricade better.

Karkat turned a deaf ear to the world once more, his stomach heaving even though it was completely empty, and he tried to stay completely still. He didn't want to throw up all over himself again, but he did want to cool the water down. The bathroom was starting to fill up with vapor that was making it a little hard to breathe. But he still felt cold to the bone, like someone had rammed their hand through his stomach and scooped out all the warmth in his body, even the hot water wasn't doing anything to make that feeling go away.

Oh fuck, thinking about it brought back what had happened only minutes before, and he felt his stomach reel angrily again, forcing him to dry heave and cough, trying to get control over himself. He was shaking again.

The Capricorn's brows came more tightly together, the muscle across his shoulders and back tensing as he kept quiet. Listening, waiting. But there was no response. He could hear a sound, a strange garbled spouts of what sounded like air through the muffled door, but couldn't make out if they had come from Karkat or his imagination. Worry started to pull at Gamzee's gut, as that uncomfortable feeling was there again, the one whispering that something was wrong. He was missing something, something important. Thoughts churned over his think pan, going over what little Equius had told him... hold on. Equius had said that Karkat hadn't said anything to him. That wasn't right. Gamzee knew for a fact that the Cancer could barely stand the blue blood, so if the Sagittarius had been his usual, sweaty, semi-bossy self, then surely Karkat would have told him off in his typical angry manner.

Shit, now he knew something was wrong.

Another knock, "Karkat?... Come on brother, send some speak noises my way."

You won't tell anyone or try to run away, or disobey me, because one little mistake, and I wonder which of your friends it is I'll have to take and make an example out of.

Oh gog he wanted someone to know so badly, someone to keep her away from him, make her go away.

But he couldn't, her words kept echoing in his mind. He hugged himself, sharp fingers digging into his arms, the pain a distraction from the dangers of his own thoughts, He swallowed, and then spit out a wad of mucous and bile that had gathered in his mouth from the heaving.

"I'm fine, just a little... sick" he called out again, trying to be a little louder this time as he curled up around himself a bit tighter.

Gamzee's lips pressed into a thin, uncertain line, leaning back when he tilted his head a little to far, causing his horns to clack against the wood. Man, he didn't like this door getting in the way on visually seeing his bro to see if he was really sick, or just saying shit and trying to be a leader/self-supporting or something. His speak hole parted to release words again, when a loud thump came from his kitchen, and Equius reappeared.

"Your cooling unit has been returned to it's proper place."

"Thanks motherfucker. Sorry I can't indulge in chat times, maybe we can get some bro time later?"

"That is acceptable. I must go for a pre-scheduled meeting with Nepeta. So there is no 'bro time' that could have currently happened to begin with."

"Miraculous. Shit really works itself out. See ya around bro."

Equius gave a nod, and just like that, left the Capricorn to do his duty. If that was what one could call it. Perhaps Nepeta could explain it better? After all, she was quite fond of investigating and fantasizing over multiple quadrants. There was a chance she could see something he could not. She absolutely could, actually. When it came to Nepeta, she was simply the best moirail one could have. To this, Equius was certain.

When the Sagittarius could no longer be seen, Gamzee turned back to the door, somewhat relieved now that he could actually concentrated on his ill diamond brother. Not precisely knowing what else he could do, besides taking out the pins on the door's hinges to get into the bathroom so he could be face to face with Karkat, he repeated his previous question, seeing as it had yet to be answered. "All right, I feel ya there. Anything I can up and do?"

"I'm fine"

He really, really wasn't. He had to stop a laugh from bubbling out of his throat at the lie, clamping one hand over his fucking noise hole to keep himself quiet, only a few, muffled giggles managing to escape. He slowly pulled his hand from his mouth, panting a little in the hot, humid air in the bathroom, but still refusing to move enough to turn the water off.

Hoofbeast shit.

Gamzee was a little surprised, by that thought that floated through his own mind. But he was pretty sure that that voice was right. Because damn if his diamond bro senses weren't flaring up with little red warning lights. Gamzee backed away a little bit, eyes narrowing, not out of anger, but in a way as if he was attempting to focus. Examining the door for weak points or something similar. He was about to go and try to find some tools to get the pins out of the door's hinges, when on an unknown whim he glanced down at the door knob.

Oh wait. His bathroom door didn't have a lock on it.

The Capricorn would have laughed at himself, if his focus wasn't placed elsewhere, hand gripping around the doors handle, hesitating for a moment before, "I'm entering the porcelain kingdom brother," and without further warning than that, he twisted the knob and pushed the door open slow and cautious. As if he were expecting Karkat to be standing there ready to scold him for being a sopor-fucked moron, or something.

He really hadn't been expecting a face full of steam and the choking, humid heat that was invading his bathroom. Like opening up a bottle of shaken up faygo, the shit flowed out and felt as though it was damn near consuming him. Oh yeah, shit was seriously, motherfucking seriously wrong about this. He took a single, careful step forward, leaving the door cracked so the heated fog could have a source of escape. An unbidden cough came from his through at the heavy moisture in the air, a thin layer of perspiration lying on everything in the porcelain and tile room.

"Karkat?"

"Gogdammit I said I was" He paused here, gagging a little and shivering as some of the fog left the area around him, like the water beating on his back wasn't burning fucking hot. "Fine" he finished, again moving his hand up in front of his mouth, closing his eyes as he tried, once more, not to throw up all over the area, but it was hard, it was fucking hard, every time he closed his eyes he kept seeing his blood in the darkness, and when he opened them, some new horrible vision was flashing in front of his eyes, the tub, filled with blood, hands and organs floating on the surface, faces sewn into the walls, and then, just like that, it was clear again, nothing but the white surface of the shower around him.

A silence came from the Capricorn then. Partially because it was obvious, even to him, that the male was lying and the other half was because, as some of the steam cleared, a scent hit Gamzee's senses. The smell didn't confuse him because Karkat had said he was sick, but it still pulled something uncomfortably inside the Capricorn. Then he was moving, soft foots steps against the moist floor, hand reaching and gripping the shower curtain, and he pulled it back. Not slow, not fast, just a light tug, tilting his head as he looked down at the Cancer, expression soft, eyes that had been under a somewhat forced hazed, clear. There were only a few split seconds wasted taking in the male's state, the fact he still wore clothes, the putrid chunks of stomach content still clinging to his legs. The scalding hot water that made the Cancer's flesh well up, the blood rushing there and turning it nearly the same shade of vibrant red.

Then Gamzee was kneeling, arms crossing on the lip of the abulation trap, coming to eye level with Karkat, light smile in place, "Somehow brother, I'm in serious doubts about that."

Karkat closed his eyes, swallowing painfully as he seemed to refuse to meet Gamzee's gaze. "I'm...covered in fucking vomit. I didn't want to be fucking seen like this, it's... disgusting" he stated in as neutral a tone as he could manage, trying to fight down the screaming horror, having to pause a few times to keep himself from throwing up again.

Indigo eyes vanished once as the Capricorn blinked, reappearing in the millisecond it took to do such an action, small smile still there, before he gave a thoughtful hum. Then he was moving, leaning forward, arms extending, slipping around the Cancer's shoulders and pulling him close, chin resting on top of Karkat's head, cushioned by the wet hair. He didn't flinch as the scalding, burning water pattered against his skin, didn't seem to mind the male's sickened state. All that was going through his mind was that something was wrong with Karkat, and he looked as though he was planning on going through it by himself. "Then I'll keep my see holes closed, no worries then."


	56. Needing Distractions

We can't try to be serious when both of us are in way too goofy moods writing up these damn chapters.

I tried but my brain kept going 'LOL NOPE!' and scattering my more sadistic thoughts and replacing them with ponies and rainbows.

_-Eren S._

* * *

><p>For a few fleeting seconds, Karkat actually didn't mind. You could only handle so much stress before your brain just didn't give a single shit about what normally bothered you, and went for basic comforts and needs to sooth that strain. Karkat just sighed, letting his muscles relax a little and closing his eyes, allowing himself for, just a split second, to pretend none of the events with that psycho bitch had happened, she didn't exist, just a delusion brought on by his own, addled brain. No, not even a delusion, it simply hadn't happened, a bad dream and now he was awake and safe.<p>

Too bad reality shattered that small, tiny hope before it could live very long, he reopened his eyes, blinking as a frown crossed his face, and he attempted to pull away from Gamzee, rolling his eyes. It wasn't a dream, it was real, and he had to deal with it. He strengthened his failing sanity with the thought that he would have to at least try and be strong to keep the others safe, he couldn't let them find out, no matter how bad it got, because he wouldn't let any of them die because of him.

"Okay, enough with the fucking hugging, let go"

Gamzee probably wouldn't have let go, if not for the fact that at first, he had felt the Cancer relax, accepting the comfort, smile pulling a fraction wider at the Capricorn's lips. So, satisfied that he at least been somewhat of a help, he rocked backwards. However, he kept true to what he said, and quite literally closed his eyes as his hands came back on the lip of the abulation trap to keep from falling backwards and onto his rump. It brought back memories of similar demands when they were young. Back before Gamzee had found out about Karkat's blood color. The skin on his arms had a dark indigo undertone from where the still scalding water had touched it, though he continued to seem not bothered by it. "Want me to go on the hunt for fresh clinging weaved cloth?"

Karkat took a moment to think, eyes shifting from Gamzee towards his pants, yeah, he was going to wash these damn pants three times before he felt comfortable wearing them again. "The bag near my recuperacoon has a pair of clean shorts in there" Granted they were not actually shorts but more so like somewhat over-sized boxers (he didn't have many clothes) they were the only clean pair of any kind of pants he had. He wasn't sure about shirts, the one was cut up and soaked in blood now, he'd never wear it again, it was double bagged along with the other... things. And his remaining shirt (he only had two) was soaked in sopor slime. He wasn't sure if he had another one that had escaped his notice.

It was easier to think about these stupid, trivial things than anything else, it distracted his mind, forced it off those darker thoughts, helped him. He was starting to become aware of the burning sensation on his back, and managed to reach behind him, slowly, and turn the heat of the water down to a comfortable coolness to sooth the burning.

Gamzee gave a slow nod, pushing himself to a stand, and turning to start jogging out of the bathroom. Except he forgot two things. One, his eyes were still closed. Two, the bathroom floor was still kind of wet. He took two strides, bumped into the open door, slipped backwards, arms flailing, before he caught himself on the bathroom counter. Eyes still closed, heart racing slightly at the action, then a brief pause, before laughter bubbled from the Capricorn. "Man, that door is all kinds of motherfucking ninja. Hold on, I got this shit." He pulled himself back to a stand, steadying himself, before slowly walking towards the door, hands outstretched in front of him this time to keep from running into it. Then, his hands door, then the door knob. With a triumphant honk, he guided himself to the other side of the door, and out into his significantly cooler room.

Karkat's left hand flew up and hit his face, eyes squeezing shut as a look of mild agitation crossed his face. Only Gamzee would be fucking stupid enough to do that, almost cracking his head open on the damn bathroom floor, like Karkat could handle seeing any more blood, whether it was his or not, today.

With the room mostly aired out, though, he was surprised by how cold he felt, like he was sitting in a freezer, not to mention he was getting a bit light headed and dizzy. He thought about it for a few seconds, before he realized it must be blood loss. Okay, no freaking out, he took a few deep breaths to calm himself and think about it from a very distanced point of view. He wasn't currently bleeding anywhere, which meant he wouldn't loose any more blood than he already had, and he was still conscious, so that meant he didn't have to go the hospital, wonderful.

It took Gamzee a moment, to recall the exact directions Karkat had given him to find his shorts. Slipping through the hole in their wall into the other room, and hunting down the male's rarely used coon. It wasn't difficult to find his bag, however, Gamzee felt himself coming to a stop, as indigo eyes found the massive splatter of half-dry white paint. Man, that color-less color was everywhere. What... had happened? He had nearly reached a hand out to brush across it, almost as if he thought that something- He stopped himself, giving his head a shake. Shit, time to focus, Karkat was waiting for him. The Capricorn turned back to his task at hand, sorting through the bag until he found what he assumed the male had been talking about.

Next, came the hunt for a shirt. Drawer after drawer was searched through, he even poked his head in the closet but came up with nothing. Damn, he didn't know Karkat was lacking in clothed likeness. But when he thought about, it did seem like the Cancer was wearing the same thing an awful fucking lot. A thought came across Gamzee's think pan, but he tucked it away for later as he returned to his room. Opening one of his own drawers and digging through it, until he found a long-sleeved shirt that he figured Karkat wouldn't object too much to. He ended up grabbing one of the only simple shirts he had, a long sleeved white shirt with indigo stripes on it. All of his other shirts had band names, capricious minstrels, or some other magical carnival theme dancing across the cloth canvas. Well, he did have a few fancy button up shirts, but they were in the pile of clothes to be washed.

So, with clothes in hand he returned to the bathroom, and placed what he had sought on the bathroom counter. Careful to keep his eyes off Karkat, though this time not closing them so he could see where he was going. "There ya go best friend. Sorry, but I couldn't find any of your motherfucking shirts. So I figured you could all up and use one of mine until one fucking appears." Then he slipped out of the bathroom again, closing the door behind him to give the Cancer his privacy, with a song humming from his lips. It was not to be confused that he didn't care, nor wonder what had happened to Karkat. But he highly doubted his moirail would want to talk about it now, or even want to think about it. So, he'd bury his curiosity, he was good at burying things, and give the Cancer what he thought he needed.

Karkat stayed in the tub for a moment before he tried to get out, turning the water off completely and using both the side of the shower and the curtain around it to help himself up to his feet, his legs still felt like jelly, especially when he peeled his pants off (gagging thanks to the half digested food still clinging to them, and going over his plan once more to wash these things three times, at least). Eventually, standing made him way too dizzy, and he had to sit down on the toilet as he undressed and grabbed a towel, taking his time drying himself off before he grabbed first the shorts/ boxers and slipping them on. They were black with red hems at the end of the legs, ending just above his knees.

The shirt wasn't his, but he could hardly complain, it was warmer than his soping wet clothes had been, and long sleeved (both of his shirts had just been T-shirts, he lost his jacket at some point, he wasn't sure where it ended up). He slipped it on, frowning a little bit unsteadily at how... big it was on him, so much so that he actually had to roll up the sleeves just so that his fingers weren't covered by them. At least he knew now that he'd have to, somehow, get a new shirt, maybe two, definitely be easier to take care of three of them and still have a shirt to wear rather than switching the two between the wash constantly.

He was still barefoot, not that he minded. But the tiles felt hot and slick beneath his feet, and with his current issue with keeping balance, he'd prefer not to stay in the bathroom. Besides, his episode seemed to have passed now, oddly enough, thanks to the clowny asshole in the other room. He guessed that was the point of moirails, someone to steady you, he had always assumed it was a one-way thing, guess not.

He exited the bathroom, shivering just a little bit in the colder room, and frowning.

Gamzee looked up from where he had perched on the back of the couch, now wearing a band shirt with three 'X's on it, one green, one blue, one yellow. His shoes were now off as well and bare feet were planted where one was supposed to sit. While waiting, to keep his mind distracted from curiosities, he had hunted down his IGrub, a husk looking version of the human IPod, and was listening to the music pulsating in his auditory ducts. That is, until one hand reached up to tug a single ear bud headphone out while the other hand gave a thumbs up, "Looking badass brother." Okay, no, he looked adorable as all fuck, and he resisted the urge to bite his cheek to keep a small bit of laughter from coming out.

"I look like I'm blind and tried to dress myself" Karkat responded somewhat sourly, his voice still a tad bit slurred and his cheeks coloring themselves red ever so slightly as a pouting like expression crossed his face. Damn, he already wanted to go into the bathroom and just sit down and pretend the world didn't exist. He didn't want to risk freaking out in front of someone. But right now, the presence of another person nearby was the only thing holding him together.

So that was why he walked forward, taking a seat at the end of the couch, looking somewhat disgruntled.

Okay, yeah, the pouting and the blush was not helping the thoughts going through Gamzee's think pan. He withheld another threat of laughter that tickled the back of his throat, as he glanced down at Karkat with a raised brow. Before he moved down to join him, sitting cross-legged beside the Cancer with a hum, before he turned the flickering picture box on, and set the remote beside the male. He kept one of the bud headphones in one ear, leaving the other dangling against his stomach as he leaned back all nice and comfortable. "If you're not up for broadcast images, I can put in some pre-recorded film flicks." he offered absently, although honestly he'd only be half-listening to them anyway. Yep, he was just gonna chill here like a motherfucker, a nice and quiet subjuggulater, behaving all nice and pretty.

But hell if it wasn't tempting to give Karkat some more serious hug times, or point out that the over-sized shirt made him look sort of like someone from one of his romcoms.

Movies were a good idea, nice and distracting. "I'd prefer a movie" He stated, and moved to get up from the couch, stumbling just a little bit as his vision blurred, oh fucking blood loss he hated it. Haha, it was easier to think of things as just tiny little annoyances. Nevertheless, he managed to steel himself on the arm of the couch, regaining his wavering sense of balance before he continued forward, determined to do this for himself.

Getting through the hole was really fucking tricky, but he managed to do it without falling back on his ass. He merely grabbed the entire bag, instead of shuffling through it for the movies, and threw it into Gamzee's room through the hole, and then climbed through after it, a tad bit more unstable now. He didn't want to go into his room, the white splotches of paint covered up proof of what just happened. He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to go in there again after that, the very thought made him want to vomit up his insides.

He had to distract himself. He let his legs collapse beneath him, bringing him into a sitting position on the floor in front of his bag, which he was now searching desperately through for a movie. He pulled out three different ones, and glanced between them. He wanted to watch the middle one, but it had some... questionable scenes in it. Okay a lot actually, but despite the absolutely obscene amount of nudity and pailing, it was a really deep and interesting story.

In the mean time, Gamzee had simply watched in silence, not bothering to try and keep the haze over his mind and instead, just staying as relaxed as he possibly could. He wanted to be alert, to focus on his diamond brother for the time. Yeah there was the risk that something would irritate him or set him off; but hell if it was just him and Karkat, he didn't think there would be a big issue. The music also helped, the heavy bass slamming loud noises into one ear hole kept him partially distracted, while observing Karkat's exit and return occupied the other half of his attention. In the silence that followed waiting for the Cancer to decide on his movie, to help take his mind off of whatever had caused the illness episode and what Gamzee assumed had been some sort of break down. Well fuck, how else would you classify Karkat, one of the wickedest motherfuckers Gamzee knew, sitting in the shower still clothed and getting sick with hell hot water slamming down on him?

_You really should attempt to find a Kismesis._ Oh by the great motherfucking vast Honk, now he could hear Valus' voice being all condescending as shit in his head too. _It would be a good source for you to vent such rage and any other frustrations you have built up_. Would Karkat agree? Damn, bad Makara, now was not the time. Focus, focus, focus. Gamzee blinked when his jumping thought process zero-d back in on the Cancer, the likes of which was holding up three separate movies. He sat up a little bit, leaning over just slightly as if doing so would reveal to him the secret titles. "If you've got indecision chewing crazy trail through your brain, you could always close up your eyes and all... get some mixing going. Be all like a motherfucking surprise. Fucking... pop!"

Bluh, he couldn't fucking decide. So instead, he just mentally numbered them, and then looked over at the Capricorn. "You can pick. One, two, or three?"

There was a momentary blank stare from the indigo blood, as if something just simply was not computing. A long silence, before an easy smile came over the male's lips, "Shit, gotta go with number one. Number two already has a friend, and number three has got that motherfucker two. So let's give some love to lonely number one."

Karkat picked up the first one, shoving 2 and 3 back into the bag somewhat carelessly as he stood up (pushing back his sleeves again, damn this shirt was huge on him), wobbling a little before pushing his hand against the wall to regain his balance, and handed it to Gamzee. "I have no idea how to fucking work your TV or where anything is" He stated simply, motioning for the other male to get it set up. This wasn't true, most of this stupid movie shit was the same for all systems, he was just getting really fucking dizzy.

"Alright bro, I'll prepare the flicker box," and with no further question or comment, the male stood up as he was motioned to do, clipping his IGrub onto the hem of his shirt to free up his hands as he went to put the movie in. Which, ended up taking a little longer than it should. Because damn, Gamzee couldn't remember his DVD player having so many push options. Though he didn't actually watch a lot of movies to begin with. Okay, yeah, that had been a little annoying. Shit should be a little easier now right-oh fuck where did all these buttons on his television remote come from?

Alright, no big deal, he could find the right switch to change the television to the right channel. Twelve buttons later and no luck. Determination twisted over the Capricorn's face, as he glared between the remote and his flicker box. Each press was met with slightly more force, the beginning's of a growl coming from the back of his throat. Because gog-dammit! At least one of these MOTHEFUC- oh look, there was the DVD menu. Gamzee's head gave a tilt, eyes a blink, before a lazy smile pulled back over his lips.

"There, fucking found it. Want anything to drink best friend? I could seriously go for some wicked elixir. I haven't heard the sound of a fresh opened brew since the sun started it's climb going all up in the sky."

If Karkat wasn't dealing with his own issues he probably would have been more aware of just how long it was taking to get the movie up and running, also the growl, but he was a little out of it, breathing carefully as he curled back up at one end of the couch. His mind kept trying to drag him back to the blood but he refused to let it. Oh gog he hoped that movie started soon, his current distractions were failing him, and despite his resolve to try not to consider it in order to stay strong for his friends, he was still frayed at the edges, staring down at that big black hole before him. It wasn't until Gamzee spoke to him that he snapped out of it, pulling back a little from that edge, uncertainly.

"Just some water" He replied, looking a bit confused, but quietly draining the emotion from his face.

There was another long moment then, as Gamzee just sort of looked at Karkat, and though it appeared as if he may be zoning, he was actually taking in those little movements. Those barely noticeable actions and behaviors. "Kay bro," and with that he stepped forward, slipped out casually to ruffle a hand through Karkat's hair, and then absconded quickly into his kitchen to get their drinks.

Karkat frowned a bit, hands raising up to grab hold of his hair automatically when it was ruffled, scowling just a bit at the other male as he ran into the kitchen before he could be raged at. Yeah, like his hair wasn't fucking messy enough already.

The Capricorn returned moments later, strawberry faygo in one hand, another glass of water in the other. He had been able to grab the things surprisingly quick, because it seemed that someone had cleaned his kitchen for the most part. Probably Karkat. A small smile pulled at that, man, he'd have to find a way to thank his bro later. So it was with no less fanfare than that, that he placed Karkat's drink on the arm of the couch, pressed play on the DVD, and plopped down opposite to Karkat with his faygo. Twisting open his drink with a hiss, and taking a long swig, as the opening credits began to roll, mixing together with the music that still blared in one of his ear holes.

Karkat rolled his eyes a little as he finally noticed one of the earphones hidden in Gamzee's mass of hair, blaring music into his ears. Well that solved his unthought question of what that faint noise was, he had assumed some asshole in a nearby room was blaring his stereo or something. He first reached over for the water, downing it as quickly as possible (not a smart move, but fuck if he cared anymore), and then he reached over and pulled the ear bud out of the Capricorn's ear, having to sort of lean on Gamzee's leg a little for some stability.

"If you keep listening to music this loud, you're gonna be fucking deaf"


	57. Plans

In this chapter, Karkat learns things about Gamzee he never wanted to know XD

-_Eren S._

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><p>"If you keep listening to music this loud, you're gonna be fucking deaf"<p>

The reaction was instantaneous, his body tensed, going absolutely rigid as soon as that particular distraction was gone. Half-lowered eyes widened a fraction, and the barely noticeable black pupil in those indigo irises contracted. Then Gamzee was aware of his fingers around the wrist of the hand Karkat had used to pull the ear bud out of, was aware of the faint pulse beneath the Cancer's skin. Heart beats passed, then Gamzee swallowed and let out a slow exhale, "Sorry about that brother. You're in the right, can't let mothefucking thump beats make me deaf, won't be able to listen to them anymore... or fucking anything," and he released a small laugh at that, a somewhat awkward smile pulling at his lips.

Karkat froze, eyes becoming wide as he felt Gamzee's fingers curl tightly around his wrist, fear painted all over those red eyes of his. He blinked, just staring at Gamzee, not responding, until he was left go. And even then, he stayed frozen for a few moments, before his gaze went flat, and he drew back to the farthest end of the couch, curling his legs up against his chest, and staring at the TV screen, expression utterly neutral.

An uncomfortable twist came from Gamzee's gut, as he realized that that had been a stupid as fucking shit thing to do. But he couldn't help it, he didn't remember his hand moving until it was already there and he could feel that pulsation, that sign of life. The loose smile still stayed, as Karkat pulled away, but his eyes were harder now. No, it had been no fault of the Cancer's, he had just been looking out for him like the best fucking friend he was. But... now that look of fear that had entered his moirails gaze, was stuck in his think pan. Okay, fuck, he really should have just ate some of the damn motherfucking sopor.

He wanted to apologize again, but he somehow felt that doing so would sound empty to the Cancer's ears, and at this point, he really didn't know what he could say or do to make Karkat believe him. So for now, in silence, he plucked the IGrub off of his shirt, turned it off and dropped the music device and head phones lightly to the floor. Then, in the following, somewhat awkward silence, he attempted to give the movie all of his attention. Alright, he could sit still through a movie, for the Cancer's sake. All nice and quiet, watch the story play out and-

"Wait why's female troll filling a bucket with the other she-troll, when she was just doing sloppy make-outs with the yellow blood?"

"Because she's a whore" Yup, that was pretty much why, had either of them been paying attention only minutes ago, they would have seen the exchange of money being passed between the two female trolls. This... was the only non-romcom movie that Karkat had that he actually liked, despite the fact that it was depressing as all hell.

Gamzee just sort of gave this blink, before he gave a hum of recognition. Well, that did make sense... it also explained how she could-woah. Hello happy fun time scene. At one point during the exchange, Gamzee actually leaned forward, propping his elbows up on each crossed knee, and resting his chin in the palms of his hands. Silent, before, "I don't get why she's so impressed, I can motherfucking bend like that." Huh, maybe he had a possible side-job... a small smirk pulled at his lips, though the thought wasn't entertained for too long. Right, he was supposed to be attempting to focus on Karkat's movie.

Oh jegus fucking christ he was never going to be able to try and sit through these damn pailing scenes while trying not to be somewhat uneasy ever again. In fact, most of the time, Karkat just fast forwarded through them. He was tempted to do so right now if it made Gamzee shut the fuck up. But the statement that issued forth from the Capricorn's mouth did a nearly excellent job at shattering his mood. "I didn't need to fucking know that! How the hell do you know if you can bend like that anyway?" His hands covered his face, hiding it from view.

That smile pulled further across the Capricorn's lips as he looked over at the Cancer, straightening up just ever so slightly as the two trolls on the screen kept... well, doing their thing. Gamzee thought of multiple answers, before giving a shrug, "I was suffering serious boredom and watching the flicker box. Some fucking documentary about wicked circus folk, and they had this one motherfucker called a contortionist. Crazy pink monkey could do some wisharmzical shit, and I thought I'd all up and give it a try. Then I got situated in boredom again, and did some fucking reading up on the husktop on the electrical impulses around the world. Found this website all titled like... some kind of mirthful Sutra, and I gave some of the shit I found in there a try. Figured, shit, I could use some of those for future red or black romances, help make happy noises come all nice and pretty." Well, Karkat did ask.

It-was-a-fucking-rhetorical-question-he-didn't-really-want-to-know-you-stupid-sopor-fuck-brained-clown. Uggggh that was the LAST thing he wanted to know was that Gamzee thought it was fun to try out fucking sex positions when he was bored. "If you can't shut up, I'm changing the movie" Thank gog the sex scene was almost over, it was only a few minutes long anyway, mingled with the opening credits.

Gamzee almost resisted the laughter that came from his lips at the male's expression... well, what he could see from underneath his hands. And-oh shit was he blushing? A genuine grin pulled at the Capricorn's lips, as eyes narrowed and he leaned in just a little bit, before he retracting biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing out loud. Aw, would you look at that, Karkat was getting all shy about thinking of mirthful times. Fuck, he was almost jealous of whoever would occupy his bro's red rom... but black rom. Oh damn, he hadn't ever thought of Karkat getting a Kismesis before. Somehow, the thought didn't sit well with him.

"Sorry bro, I'll keep my curiosity all caged up and to myself. Ain't nothing to get all blush like about though, bucket times are a mirthful, miraculous, beautiful thing. But I'll keep all hush and shush over here. Like a motherfucking laughsassin. Shhhh."

Karkat was seriously wanting to like... punch Gamzee in the stomach or something to make him shut up. But he probably wouldn't, largely because he wasn't a violent person. He may scream and rant but he hated fighting.

But seriously, this was so fucking embarrassing to talk about and Gamzee was going on like it was nothing and just uuueerrrgggggh. He kept his face buried in his hands, biting down on his tongue as he tried to control the heat rushing up to his cheeks. The movie was nice and distracting from the current topic, seeing as the stupid pailing scene was done now and the main character had already left the other troll's house, going about her day, revealing that she was homeless, and used the money she got from sex to feed herself.

Gamzee was in-between feeling a little sorry for the female, and wondering what she was so upset about. He felt sorry that she didn't have a home or something like that. But man, she was paid to do something fun with other people, and got to eat with the money she earned after words. Maybe she was upset because she wasn't doing it because she wanted to? Yeah, that would pretty much make one all kinds of fucking down.

Oh thank gog he was finally being quiet, now they could get back to the fucking movie. Karkat took a deep breath, finally managing to force his blush to go away as he looked back up at the screen, watching as the story continued to unfold.

* * *

><p>Cee laughed, one hand up in front of her mouth as if she tried to stop the fit of giggles, but she did no such thing, merely doubled over laughing, smiling at Tansis. "That's hilarious!" She chimed, really most of her joy coming from the fact that Jarren and Valus had taken their leave.<p>

Leaving her with the most susceptible of the three highbloods.

"Oh! That wasn't even the best part! You should have seeeen the look on Jarren's face when the body finally hit the ground!" a laughter from a slightly different tone of voice, came from that of Tansis as she had stood up to tell her tale. "He was just ooooh so confused! It was like he couldn't tell if he should be horrified or thrilled. Gosh, he was just so darn cute when we were younger!"

Cee laughed even harder, both her hands curled around her sides now as she tried to control herself. Ah, she could remember her own days of youth, back before she went batshit fucking crazy anyway. Hee Hee Hee. "So cuutteee~ Maka was the same way when we were little. She loved the sight of blood so much, but she hated killing people. Honestly I wish she would have gotten over that fear and followed her ancestor's footsteps. I mean, being a subjuggulator has got to be way more fun than being a mechanic" She stated, and then a sudden thought occurred to her. "Oh hey, speaking of Subjuggulators, where did that friend of yours run off to? He said something about something close to his heart, was he having matesprit issues?"

"Nope, no no," Tansis breathed, her giggles slowly dying to a faded bubbling sound as she placed her hands on her hips with a grin. "I don't even think Gam knows what red emotions feel like, he's never had a matesprit before. A lot of trolls find it too much of a risk. After all, the Grand Highblood wasn't known for keeping matesprit's long, and whenever he was done with them and stopped feeling red it was all... chop chop Chop!" she gave a spin at the last chop, pretty little smile playing on her lips. Though it soon faded to a frown and she let out a small sigh, "No, no, Gam was probably running off to his moirail. Which Val thinks their relationship is more but... ew."

Cee blinked, a curious look crossing her face now. "Running off to his moirail? that's funny, I thought it would be kinda... counter productive for the Grand Highblood to have one, I mean, he's SUPPOSED to be murderous" She stated, looking honestly confused as she seemed to think for a moment. "besides, shouldn't his moirail be catering to him? I mean, they can't possibly be higher than him!"

"I know! But he doesn't see it like that. Gam loves to kill, you should see him when he does it Cee, it's just soooo pretty! But with his moirail," that sweet smile stayed on her face, but there was a distinct hardening of those big round eyes of hers, "I don't know how the cretin does it, but he can actually calm him down when he starts to rage, and Gam actually seems happy about it! It's incredibly annoying. He's holding Gamzee back from his full potential! It's been soooo long since Alturians have had a true Grand Highblood, and finally a proper one is hatched and- Oh! It's so frustrating!" And she actually stomped her foot at that, crossing her arms and letting out a slow, dream-like sigh. Wow, it felt good to talk about this with a new highblood, especially someone as wonderfully deadly and fun as Cee.

Cee frowned, a pouting expression crossing her face for a moment, and then, her face lit up, as if she had an idea. "What if you got rid of his moirail?"

A small, chitter-like sound came from Tansis then, "I already tried that. But Gamzee stopped me before I could even put a single scratch on that pretty little lowblood face. Then he had to get all threatening and bossy, which was nice at the time. But now," she lifted her hand up to rest it against the side of her cheek, "Now he said he'd cull me if I harmed him any way shape or form. So not nice, and so not fun."

Cee just laughed. "That's why you don't make it obvious it was you, or do it in front of them silly! Think like a highblood~" She stated, closing her eyes as she held out her hands and smiled. "Say... I can find out who this lowblood is, real easy actually, and I can make it seem like he just went on a field trip or was visiting someone, something like that, so that Makara doesn't question why he's gone" She paused here, that smile widening.

"And I can give the lowblood straight to you, and when you're done, just make it look like someone else did it~!"

Tansis gave a thoughtful hum, blinking curiously at those oh so lovely white eyes that belonged to the still fairly newly met troll. After a long pause, the dancer troll raised one finely trimmed brow, before, "I think you're using me for something," she said, light violet irises all but gleaming, "Though I don't care! I'm in, as long as it'll give me a chance to have some fun. However, saying he went to go visit someone wouldn't really work. Silly little nuisance has some case of memory loss, so Gamzee would be suspicious... Unless he was going somewhere with Mr. Mustard."

"I'll think up something, just for you~!" She answered simply, not seeming at all bothered by the comment that Cee may be using her, it was true, but there was no reason at all to confirm it. "It might take a few days, but I'll make it work, besides, I've always loved a challenge"


	58. With Just Words

"Okay, I'm all up in the understanding that she's got to make happy times with multiple motherfuckers to survive, and she doesn't want to. But why doesn't she just fucking, get with that one overly pleasant bro, even if his Kismesis is hell blooded?" Yeah, the whole Gamzee staying quiet bit, hadn't worked out for long. The male certainly wasn't afraid to ask questions when something confused him.

"Because she doesn't trust him. Her whole life she's only been used so she doesn't think it's actually possible that he's feeling red for her" Karkat explained, giving up getting Gamzee to shut the hell up because, hey, at least he wasn't fucking talking about pailing again.

"Oh, I'm in the see." When was this film flick going to end? Hey, Gamzee was doing well focusing, especial what with little body parts dropping from the ceiling in his think pan. Those thoughts were of little concern however. They were normal, and when they began to get out of the norm, a silent glance at Karkat was enough to get them situated as simple background images. Flicker stories just weren't really his slice of pie, not that this was bad or anything. He just, had some trouble following the story when there was so many special effects and wicked pictures and lights from certain camera angles.

"... I think she should have got wiggled into the yellow cloth clinger. Color all fucking, get's happier contrasts going, and would be easier to wiggle back out of."

Karkat just sighed, not bothering to comment on what Gamzee said, mainly because it was kinda random as all fucking hell, and his favorite part in this movie was coming up.

A few more minutes, ten, maybe fifteen, and the protagonist found herself out on the streets in the rain, her hotel evicted her due to a 'business deal' gone wrong with the manager, The rain pouring down from the sky. A typical depressed scene, most characters might be depicted as crying at this point, not bothering to hide their emotions. But this girl walked with her head down, eyes empty, but dry, just a blank, blank look on her face.

Karkat leaned forward, focusing intently on the screen now as the male protagonist showed up, having been passing by the area, and proceeded into a conversation with his flush crush, offering to let her stay at his house if she had no where else to go, free of charge of any kind. And after all of the rejection she gave him, she flashed back on his past kindness, a kind of softness coming to her eyes, and said yes, allowing herself to finally just cave in a bit to her own weakness, no longer having to hold up and stay strong for herself, to keep everything at arm's length in order to keep herself alive.

The conversation deepened, sentimental, sappy even, but fuck Karkat couldn't help it, he could feel a warm wetness gathering at the edges of his eyes, and he tried to blink back the tears that came automatically. It didn't work, he had to turn his head ever so slightly, hoping that Gamzee wouldn't notice.

That hope however, wouldn't hold, as the Capricorn glanced over at his bro, lips parted to ask another question. Though they soon closed again as indigo eyes blinked in only mild surprise, at the tears that ran down the Cancer's cheeks. Oh hell, he'd forgotten how much touching feelings Karkat got about watching certain movies. Yeah, Gamzee could remember why he sat through the Cancer's flicker box choices now, it was always worth it to see his bro let down all that angry hell mirth. Usually, that was when most of Karkat's movies ended, so when he prepared to stand up to go get some more faygo, he froze and blinked in surprise, plopping right back down in his seat.

"Woah, something else up and happens?"

"Not much, you can turn it off now" Karkat responded simply, wiping at his eyes. Oh how he would have wished this movie ended on that nice note, but it didn't, it would continue on to the next day, when the two of them were killed in a car crash. He didn't want to see that part, he often ended up turning the movie off at this point anyway. He liked to pretend it ended there.

Gamzee gave a shrug, taking the remote in hand and turning the DVD player off without a second thought, before stretching his arms up above his head, back popping back into place with a yawn. "Man, my nutrition sack is getting angry with me. I'm going to investigate the kitchen for some edible substances. Oh! Shit, forgot to send some words Tavbro's way" as he mentioned that, he came to a stand, one hand digging into his pants pocket to fish out his phone, "Need a refill on your liquid bro? Or anything to chew on?"

"I don't think I can stomach food right now" the red eyed male responded somewhat sullenly, biting down on the inside of his cheek as he frowned.

The Capricorn gave a silent blink, before he stepped in front of the Cancer and knelt down, easy smile brushing over his painted face. "Hey... best friend?"

Karkat blinked, looking at Gamzee and feeling just the slightest bit uneasy. "What?"

"I'm in the know shit happened," that easy smile still stayed there, and although indigo eyes were clear, they weren't hard. "I haven't got my pan around what exactly, but I ain't so drowned in sopor that I wouldn't notice. Kind of motherfucking obvious really... I got my understanding that you don't wanna make words about it." he paused, gaze drifting away for a brief moment, watching something that wasn't there, before he looked back, "Alright. But get your understanding around some shit. You're not alone brother. I'm not some soft-bulged motherfucker who can't stand against the wicked wind. Get schooled in the fact that I would seriously subjuggulate and kill for you Karkat. You may not be in approval of it, but I would. I'm all up in the know that you can take care of yourself, but there's some grumption shit that can't be done alone."

Karkat didn't answer right away, just stared back, eyes wide, but holding absolutely no emotion to them, like the eyes of a plastic toy. Blank and fixed and seeing something else, if anything, other than what was in front of him.

One second Gamzee was there, the next, the room was pooled with bright red blood, and the person in front of him wasn't his moirail, but that nightmarish version of him. It was painfully clear now, real, Karkat could smell the blood and rotten flesh. It stood up, staring down at him as it smiled. His hands started to shake, but otherwise, there was no other change in his posture other than how still and tense he became.

_'Remember how much more fun with you she had than that?'_

_He was pushed up against the wall again as she merely hummed and carved into his back with a knife._

_'Remember what she told you she would do?'_

In his mind's eye, he could too easily imagine Gamzee going up against her, and all it would take for him to fail was a single look at her and then she'd just twitch her fingers and make his heart jump out of his chest, splattering his grape colored blood all over the floor and walls. No, she'd made it worse than that, she'd keep him alive to toy with him.

He bit down on his lower lip, hands moving quickly up to his head, curling into his hair and grabbing it, pulling hard as he jerked his feet up, pulling his knees up to his chest, and hiding his face, his whole body shivering.

And a frown pulled at Gamzee's lips, brows lowered to a tight knot, "Woah... woah, woah, woah, hey! Karkat?" Holy shit, how did he manage to make Karkat do that with only words? Fuck! Guess I will make a good motherfucking subjuggulator. No! No, no, no, no, motherfucking NO! He did not need to be thinking about that now. He leaned forward then, hands coming to grip Karkat's shoulders, not incredibly tight but still there and firm. Okay, he was having a breakdown. Gamzee knew what one looked like, hell, he knew what one felt like. He scanned desperately through his think pan, pulling up those memories. How had he come out of them? There was always something... something. Damn it all, he couldn't remember! The Capricorn felt his lips moving, he was saying something to Karkat, but he couldn't register what it was.

But Karkat's head was down, he was shrinking in on himself, he wasn't looking. Why wasn't he looking? What was he seeing? He wanted to know, to try and understand what the fuck was happening to the Cancer. It was like he didn't know he was there, like he was just a specter. No, he wasn't just a ghost. Fuck no. Then he finally could hear his own words, as a sentence snarled from his lips.

"KARKAT VANTAS, LOOK AT ME!"

He visibly flinched when Gamzee roared his name, but still didn't lifted his head up, merely shook it, refusing to look up, refusing to see those horrible images again. He was mumbling now, his voice shaky and hard to understand.

"Don't want to remember it"

Oh thank the mirthful messiahs, he actually talked. Gamzee released an unsteady breath, the hints of rage still roaring beneath his veins as he forced himself with every inch of control he had, to stay calm. He wasn't aware of his thumbs moving in small circles, of leaning in a little closer so that he could catch all of the words that came from Karkat, any that might be mumbled.

"Alright brother, all motherfucking right. Hush and shush," Gamzee didn't know what to do. He wasn't the one usually fixing things or helping, he was the one breaking and making things worse. "You don't gotta remember that shit now. Been a long day bro. You don't gotta be strong, or some other nonsensical shit. Just gotta breath, find your fucking little light. All shining and warm like a lazy sun. Gotta find what makes that little light."

That nightmare version hissed at Gamzee, a look of hatred all over it's face. 'You can say that easy you fucker. All you need to do is eat your poison slime to think happy. You weren't there, you were like everyone else, no one bothered to come, missing for a fucking week and no one bothered to check why! if they had checked, none of it would have happened!' The nightmare turned to him now, he could feel it, even if he couldn't see it. 'You know, YOU KNOW! For a week you were nothing more than a plaything! That's why we wanted to die, Wanted to get away from it, wanted to die' it roared, screaming in his face.

He knew it wasn't really there, that it was just in his head, a mental manifestation of his own instability. But that wasn't all it was, it hit him now. It wasn't just a manifestation. It was whatever had happened during that week of torture under that fucking psychopath, the changes his mind went through when he lost his sanity, convinced that it had all been planned, they were trying to get rid of him. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

He tried to force it away, to think about something else, but it was so loud, too loud, oh gog make it stop and go away. He could feel every inch of his body starting to go numb, tingly, the feelings of metal against his back, sliding through his skin, only made him buck forward ever so slightly, jumping as if scared by something. Wasn't working. It wasn't working! He couldn't think, only listen to those screams and feel them repeating the session over again. He needed something solid and real, something to get a fucking foot hold on. So, for that reason, he finally untangled his hands from his hair, instead locking them on one of Gamzee's arms, focusing on that real, solid sensation. His shaking slowly, slowly starting to stop.

The Capricorn didn't say anything more at first, stayed still, eyes drifting to the hands which seemed to have a death grip on his fore-arm. But it didn't push it away, instead it looked like they were attempting to hold onto him. Gamzee swallowed, small smile pulling at his lips as his free hand carefully ran his claws through the male's still somewhat damp hair. "You motherfucking got me bro," he spoke, keeping his voice as low and even as he could, "I'm not going no fucking where."

Karkat didn't respond right away, at least not by speaking, but eventually, his shaking stopped almost completely save for the smallest hint of a tremor in his hands, and his muscles weren't so tense and locked up as before. He swallowed painfully, finally loosening his grip on Gamzee's arm (though not letting go quite yet) he took a deep, shuddering breath, attempting to calm himself down further, even daring to peek up and look around the room, seeing everything, the blood, and the nightmare. All gone. He closed his eyes then, feeling a faint note of relief. But still, his mouth opened and was moving before he could stop it.

"...Sorry..."

"No big deal. Can't even count how many times I've flipped my fucking shit around you," that smile stayed on Gamzee's lips as the hand that was running through the Cancer's hair gave gentle tugs to pull tangles out. Huh, he didn't know that that kind of pets could be soothing to the one making the head brushes too. What had happened? It seemed like something Gamzee said had triggered a reaction in Karkat. Well fuck, now he was feeling guilty. It was strange, he was sober, but not in a rage, something that didn't happen often. Everything felt so motherfucking clear, so raw. Like someone had taken this big ass see-through shell off of his head. So the feeling of guilt, not dimmed by a haze or anger, clung to his lungs, making them feel heavy. But he just kept that same, even smile, "Though you did make me get some shivers and shakes."

He thought it was a big deal, horrifying moment aside, it was damn embarrassing for someone to see him in that state of weakness. He hated feeling weak, if earth had been a troll only society, or maybe in some bizarre twist of fate all trolls just lived on a different planet, weakness would get you killed, fuck, it still could. Still not letting go quite yet, he bit down on his bottom lip, worrying it with those sharp teeth of his. "Yeah, I noticed" He stated simply, still looking as though something was still bothering him.

Gamzee gave a blink, before his head tilted, the hand that was initializing the pets, giving one last light tug at a tangle, before resting lightly on Karkat's shoulder. His other arm was still being held captive, but he wasn't complaining. He wasn't all up in the mind about his bro having that limb, whatever he needed to keep from going back into... whatever the mirthful hell that had been. "What is it brother? What's got your think pan in worryville?"

"Wondering who to blame for this batshit clusterfuck of a moiraility, both of us are way too fucked up to supposed to be any help to the other and yet we manage somehow to deal with it"

That smile on the Capricorn's lips pulled further into a grin that nearly showed his fangs. He didn't even have to think about the answer as it fell from his lips, "Motherfucking miracles, brother," and he gave a small laugh at that, "Honk, honk, and all that fun shit."

Karkat couldn't help it, but as he let out a sigh, the tiniest smile crept up onto his face. "Fuck it I am actually going to ignore my brain and just accept that damn answer for once"

"That's the spirit best friend," and the actual smile, no matter how small, that came from Karkat was not lost on Gamzee. It was the first time that he could recall, that the male had smiled since the first day he had seen him at this University. "Want anything to drink? My throat feels like a fucking sand beast went slamming all the way to my gut."

"Just water" Karkat responded simply, the smile dropping almost as soon as it had come, replaced now by a quick glance towards the kitchen door. Oh, looked like the refrigerator was back in place.

"Should have been able to all up and guess that," chuckled Gamzee, before a silent pause fell from his lips, free hand rising to teasingly poked at the Cancer's cheek, "Kind of need my arm to go get thirst quenchers. If I could leave it behind for ya, I would. Be kind of, motherfucking weird if I was able to though."

Again, he couldn't help it, his face going flat as he let go of Gamzee's arm, just the slighest tint of red coloring his cheeks. He hadn't even realized he'd still been clinging to Gamzee like a fucking life preserver or something.

Gamzee gave a laugh as he retrieved his arm, leaning back slightly and twisting his wrist around in a circular motion almost like a sort of test. Karkat had been holding on rather tight at first. If his skin was any softer, like that of a humans, it would have probably bruised. "All right brother I'll be right back with liquid elixirs, and after I send some quick word language to Tavbro." and then he stood, feeling a slight soreness in his muscles that he had not felt until he had actually moved. Before he entered his nutrition block, he glanced back once more at Karkat to make sure all was well, before entering in.

First things first, he pulled his phone back out, and typed a quick text to Tavros.

TC: HeY BrO, YoU GoT ThE NuMbEr tO A CeRtAiN GrEeN AnD FaShIoNaBlE MoThErFuCkEr?


	59. Kanaya

You can tell, just by the ass glancing, what kind of mood we're getting into with this chapter

XD

_-Eren S._

* * *

><p>Kanaya wasn't sure if she hated or loved those conversations. It must definitively depend on the context of each one, and the subject they happened to be based upon. But right now, she would have preferred to go without a little word battle with her human matesprit.<p>

Still though, it wasn't too bad. She supposed it was just because of Rose's obscure love for therapy, or at least, assessing her friend's mental states. Strangers were subject to this as well, though she knew it irked Kanaya to have every tiny little habit dissected and investigated upon, so she tried to at least tone it down, unless she felt it was against her better interest.

Right now, though, she was merely grateful that Rose had consented to allowing her to drive nearly a state away to help a friend with some... wardrobe issues, as she was told.

Thank god the drive was not actually all that long. Normally, Kanaya was a perfect driver. She obeyed all the laws and showed courteousy to her fellow drivers. But right now, with no other cars in sight, and the person concerned with this particular issue in her mind, she had unconsciously encouraged herself to speed. Granted, it wasn't that big of an issue that she speed, but she was... should she dare admit it? Nervous.

It had been years since she'd talked to Karkat. If it hadn't been for Aradia, she would have been right beside him the instant Sollux found him again that horrible time he went missing. Aradia had took her aside in privacy, and informed her that she must stay away until she was contacted, and no matter what, she couldn't see him until then. Aradia couldn't tell her why, only said that it was important, and she had sullenly agreed. It had been hard at first, but she had to admit to feeling somewhat guilty, that these past few years she had almost forgotten about the issue. Until she was called.

She felt guilty for forgetting. What kind of friend did that? But it didn't matter right now, all that mattered was that she was needed, even if it was for something trivial such as shopping, she had been called, she was coming.

Her guilt eased some when she had to slow down, her car rumbling to a stop as she pulled into a driveway, stepped out, and headed for the school grounds of Skaia University.

She wouldn't have to walk or search too far, for from one of the buildings a too tall figure appeared with something slung over his shoulder.

Or rather, someone.

For the past two hours Gamzee had been going back and forth with Karkat after he had woke up (the male had slept on his couch for some reason the Cancer refused to explain). He says back and forth instead of arguing, because the Capricorn hadn't raised his voice and had simply kept pointing out obvious things, while the Cancer had been the one turning all red and angry. In hindsight, he probably should have asked Karkat if he wanted to go and get some clothes, instead of just asking Kanaya to come, and then informing him the day of. But Gamzee had the sneaking suspicion that if he had asked, the Cancer may have refused. It was probably a good thing he also didn't inform the male that he would be paying for everything. Gamzee was fucking loaded, what with his access to the highblood's vault, and the wealth left behind by his ancestor. Even after all of the faygo and other random shit he had purchased throughout the sweeps, he had hardly even made a dent in his inheritance.

But that was distracting from how they got here now. At one point during their argument, Gamzee had glanced at a clock to see that Kanaya would arrive at any moment. However, when Karkat told him to 'fuck off' in less kind words, Gamzee had actually sighed. Before with a minor distraction, he had less than ceremoniously, bent down and slung Karkat over his shoulder, saying simply that in this case, 'Sorry brother, you got no fucking choice in the matter. Unless you wanna walk around swinging your bulge when the clouds touch the ground'. And thus, here they were now, Gamzee's smile broadening considerably as one arm remained hooked around Karkat's middle to keep him from falling. The Capricorn gave a wave, "Hey Kanaya! Shit sis, you look motherfucking wicked! Been a while!"

Kanaya couldn't help but smile and let out the lightest of restrained chuckles when she saw Gamzee approaching, carrying the Cancer troll she had been so worried about all these years. Well, granted she could only see half of Karkat right now, she could still recognize him. It was just this strange aura of 'FUCK YOU ALL RAGE' that he gave off. It was all too easy to assume he had not wanted to go on the little shopping trip that had brought her here.

"Hello Gamzee, hello Karkat, it's very nice to see you both again" She answered, giving a sincere smile.

"I guess you can just fucking say hello to my ass" Karkat spat from Gamzee's shoulder, probably scowling on the other side. Truth be told, Karkat had struggled til they got out of the dorm building, and then just settled with looking very pissed off as he just sort of... hung there. He had been stewing in his own rage until he realized that he had been staring directly at Gamzee's ass during the little fucking walk and then redirected his gaze upwards, glaring at the sky and searching for a distraction when, finally, they stopped. "Can you fucking put me down now?"

"That depends brother, on if you're going to attempt to abscond. Shit's non-negotiable, you've got like... no motherfucking cloth clingers left." and then Gamzee looked back down to Kanaya, large grin still on his face, "Thanks for coming sis, you'll have to school us on what's been happening in your history. It's good to all up and see you again."

"We can talk during the car ride, I know an excellent store only about an hour away from this location, you don't mind driving that long, do you? It can give us some time to catch up" Kanaya smiled, ah, these two had not changed in the least. "Or, if you know a more preferable store in the area..."

Woah, an hour in a mobile cage? Man, Gamzee was half-tempted to just follow Kanaya on his motorcycle. But he was doing, and forcing, this shit on Karkat, so it was only right he'd be there. "Nah sis, sounds like a plan. You're the expert on wicked sweet fashions. Hell, could be full of all kinds of mirth. I haven't ridden in a motor box for a long while, and I'm all for catching up times during the drive." So with another laugh, giving a glance at a Karkat's ass and adjusting his hold to make sure the male wouldn't be able to wiggle his way free, he nodded in approval to Kanaya. "Lead the way sis!"

"My vehicle is this way then" Kanaya responded, turning around and motioning for the two to follow her. Thankfully, the van was not that far away, since she had actually just gotten out of the parking lot. And yes, it was more commonly referred to as a 'van' rather than a car. A rather nice looking one too, painted the same, jade green color as her blood with a sleek finish. The reason for the van was because her job required her to haul around a lot of outfits and clothes, being a fashion designer and all, it was easier to have a van with lots of space than a small, cramped car.

Granted she wasn't too sure how Gamzee was going to get Karkat in the van if he was still planing on running off apparently. She unlocked the doors as they came near, opening up the side for Gamzee.

"Nice wheels sis," and with that, he gave a light grunt and leaned over, setting Karkat's feet on the ground between himself and the car. Gamzee was wearing a simple hoody, with torn jeans and his boots, while the Cancer was wearing the same clothes he had gone to sleep in the night before. The Capricorn crossed his arms leaning forward slightly to look at Karkat with that same friendly smile, "Alright brother, would you please with all kinds of motherfucking sweet ass strawberries, get in the four wheel automobile? Don't want to have to wrestle you in there like a human bear-beast."

Karkat just glared at Gamzee for a second, arms crossed over his chest, before he scoffed, and then turned around, climbing into the back of the van with a rather irritable huff.

Kanaya just smiled a little bit uneasily. Well, Gamzee had certainly gotten a bit more forceful since last she saw him. Granted, that had been nearly six years ago. People were bound to have changed, though she did have some questions about what Karkat was wearing, because it quite honestly looked like nothing more than some shoes, boxers, and a white sweater with indigo stripes on it that led her to believe it may belong to Gamzee and not him. If so, then this was a fashion disaster of epic proportions (on top of raising some curious questions). It was a good thing she had been called, she decided, as she turned and loaded herself into the driver's seat.

Gamzee followed right after Kanaya got in, crawling into the back seat beside Karkat with a smile. Mostly to make sure the male didn't attempt to bale via the other door. As they pulled away, the Capricorn would be lying if he claimed he didn't feel some level of uneasiness. Mostly because this was a rather small space, and although he slept in a recuperacoon that was much smaller, there was a distinct difference. A fellow motorist had once called cars and anything other than a motorcycle, a mobile cage. Gamzee would have to say he agreed. But he hid his discomfort behind a light smile. Shit, he could do this, just an hour.

20 minutes into the drive, Gamzee started to get fidgety. "So, this super bitchtits of a Rose human is your matesprit?"

Kanaya's cheeks turned just the slightest green. "Yes, I have to admit I had my reservations about taking a human matesprit at first. But I've found out that it does not actually bother me all that much, and I have heard of other cases of it. It is strange, yes, but we've managed" She answered, a faint smile coming over her face.

Karkat oggled at Kanaya, looking somewhat perturbed. The idea was really obscure and weird to him, taking humans as matesprits, there wasn't any point to it. The two races couldn't produce young together so it was like a dead end. Granted, he knew more than anyone in the car right now that matespritship was about far more than just procreation, it was still just odd to him.

"Wicked, mirthful miracles all around. I'm happy to see you've got joy in your life sis. Messiahs be all up in jealousy! Shit, me as well for that matter." Gamzee was sincerely happy for Kanaya. She had found someone she felt close and united to, someone with red feelings returned. "Being a pink money and all though, doesn't she get all touchy about you situated in having to find a kismesis in the future? Most I know are all pan rattled trying to understand caliginous relationships." It was a genuine concern. When the Imperial Drone came to collect the genetic material, he carried both the black and red Fillial Pails, the likes of which both needed to be filled, or it was death. Weakness of any sort in troll society was punishable by death in most cases. There was a necessity to their reproduction, and those unable to fill those quadrants and contribute to the race, were seen as weak. Not that Gamzee worried about Kanaya, he was just curious if her human heart mate would understand.

"Rose is perfectly understanding of it, and willing to 'share' if the alternative is getting culled. I am truly lucky to have her as a matesprit" She smiled again, keeping her eyes on the road. "However that's not the case, I've recently discovered that trolls of my rare blood color are not required, or even allowed, to help procreate the race. Our duty is instead to care for the mother grubs. In this way, I do not need a kismesis, and I am happy with this, Rose is all I feel I need"

"Man sis, that is some seriously wicked luck! I'm all in happy honks for you." and the smile on Gamzee's face grew just a fraction, as he began to shuffle from side to side. He briefly recalled their text conversation the night before, as he explained the situation. The Capricorn had actually been quite surprised that Kanaya had so readily agreed. He hadn't pressed the issue though, didn't want to look a gift musclebeast in the mouth. They continued to talk from their. Kanaya telling them about her job, how she was designing clothes for a living, while Gamzee seemed to be doing enough talking for both himself and the Cancer. Karkat seemed to only really say anything, when the indigo blood bothered him enough to initiate a very Cancer like reaction.

When they hit the forty-five minute mark, Gamzee's leg was visually shaking with impatience. It was like the car was taking all of the energy he was usually able to focus, and pooling it together. Man he just wanted to... jump, run, move, do somethingQ Though it was a very limited space to do anything really, even for a van. "Karkat! Shi... Karkat." when they had all pretty much caught up with the major things in their life, Gamzee had resorted to in-between talks with Karkat and Kanaya, trying to find understanding in the Universe. No really, I'm serious. "Have you ever got your pan to think about... what the fuck it'd be like to walk the same speed as the motherfucking planet turns? Fucking secrets could be revealed I think."

Oh gog would this ride never end? Karkat was literally being bored to tears here, and Gamzee bugging him with these asinine comments was making it worse. "I'm pretty sure it'd just never change from night to day" Karkat pointed out somewhat sourly, or you could die from exhaustion, or drown when you got to an ocean and tried to walk across that shit.

He could almost cry from joy when Kanaya finally announced they were there, and parked the van, smiling as she locked the breaks and unlocked the doors, shutting off the engine and pocketing the keys.

And just like that, Gamzee was gone. The only sign that he had left, being the still open car door.

It would only take a quick visual sweep of the area to find the Capricorn, as he had bolted across the other side of the parking lot, and was now climbing up the large pole that held the store's sign. Using the cage around the ladder that was padlocked, instead of the actual ladder as a means of ascent. Man he just, had to burn some motherfucking energy before he could focus. One hour, technically in one spot, with limited space to move and a frayed attention span, had made him just a fraction tense. Not overly so, as he had eaten a pie and retrieved an artificial haze before he had drug Karkat out of the dorms back at Skaia.

"And you assholes were worried about ME running off" Karkat seethed as he spotted Gamzee climbing up the cage around the ladder to the top of the sign. Seriously? What the fuck was he doing? "Gamzee what the fuck are you doing? What if you fucking fall off and break your neck or something?"

Kanaya's eyes widened a bit as she watched Gamzee run off and start climbing the sign, a worried expression crossing her face. She knew the Capricorn did some weird things, but she did hope that this didn't turn out badly.

He paused in his climbing, looking down at Karkat with a lop-sided smile, "Sorry bro! Be down in all of a second. Gotta just fucking... DO something, you know? Don't get situated in worry, I do this shit all the motherfucking time!" That probably wasn't as comforting as he meant to make it sound, as he continued on climbing until he ran out of close hand-holds and foot-holds. He paused for a split second, indigo eyes narrowing, before he pressed one foot into a crevice, and gave a small hop upward. Hands latched onto the lip of the sign and pulling himself up further. Another foot hold, another hop, and he was at the top of the store's odd name that he couldn't pronounce. Wow, not a bad view. There was a distinctive cold chill in the air, that stung his lungs and only made that smile grown. He was as high up as some of the tree tops, with an bird's eye view of everyone and nearly everything. "Man, you motherfuckers look kind of small from up in the atmosphere." His vascular pump was racing, but in a good way. He felt significantly better, having found a way to outlet an hour's worth of sitting in one location in such a short amount of time.

"Gamzee seriously! Hurry the fuck up and get down, we're probably going to be running around this fucking store for hours so you'll burn plenty of energy then!" Karkat yelled back, biting down on his lower lip in frustration. This troll would be the death of himself with these retarded stunts.

Gamzee gave a blink, his head a tilt, before he released a breathless laugh, smile broadening a fraction more as he leaned back a little and drifted his indigo eyes across what little of the horizon he could see. Man, he was going to have to take Karkat climbing or some shit sometimes, show him how motherfucking wicked it was way high up against the sky. He waited... just a few more minutes. Out in the open, nothing around him but air. It was a nice. Kind of lonely just him up against the endless air... sort of nice.

Okay, he had his moment, shit was stable and he could focus a bit better. Besides, this wasn't a leisurely outing... well, not entirely. He had dragged Karkat out here for a purpose. So it was with one finaly inhale of air, that he hooked a hand around an indention in the sign, and swung his body over the edge. He hung there for a moment, finding his footing before crouching and repeating the action. Getting back to the cage around the ladder was the trickiest part, seeing as it was underneath the sign, but as soon as he had found a hold, the rest of the way was smooth. Well, he slipped when he was three feet from the ground, but he was close enough that his feet stayed under him, and the worse that happened was he stumbled back a little to regain his balance.

Another laugh carried over the parking lot, as he jogged back over, the speed with which he had climbed up, then back down the sign, caused his chest to rise and fall at a steady rate, as his heart slowed and he gradually captured his breath. With practiced ease and a broad smile, Gamzee draped one arm around Karkat's shoulders, "Sorry bro, all my fucking focus is on you. Miss Boss Troll, I am at your motherfucking command. Like I all up and said last night, have all kinds of wicked fun, I'll take care of all the pretty little details."

Karkat just raised one hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose, seeming to fight some internal urge to rage (most likely). And after Gamzee was done talking, he jerked one arm up, knocking the male's arm off his shoulder. "Let's just get this fucking started" He stated in a rather angry tone. The sooner they got started, the sooner it would be done.

Hopefully.

Kanaya merely nodded, a slightly nervous smile pasted over her green painted lips. "Well then, let's head on inside!"


	60. Let's go Shopping

"Oh man! Look at all these motherfucking cloth clings!... Oh shit, Karkat, Kanaya, this one looks like a sweet ass flame in a starless night." Gamzee was hopping from clothes rack to clothes rack, examing each one, and at times, literally going inside of them. With the circular racks, he'd climb through the clothes to stand in the middle, looking through the shirts and pants that way. Man, it made him feel like he was surrounded by colors. He stood in one of them now, as he held up a turtle neck sweater that was black at the bottom, and faded up to red along the collar and sleeves.

"What're your thoughts bitch queen of fashionable things?"

Kanaya wasn't sure if she was to take that as a compliment, given the way Gamzee talked, or an insult. Considering the situation, and who it was, she decided to let the matter drop and take it as a compliment of sorts. Even if it did make her feel just the slightest bit odd being called a 'bitch queen of fashionable things'. "Hmm... Maybe... with the right pants to go with it..." She replied thoughtfully, eyes narrowing a little bit as she turned around to face Karkat, staring at him for a while, mentally imagining the sweater on him. But it was hard to do with his current, ridiculous outfit. She'd have to get him to try these clothes on immediately. But first, to gather up the start of a group of clothes for the first session of playing a little game she loved even now, known as 'dress up'. Only this time, the model was chosen to be Karkat.

Yet, as she stared at Karkat, focusing really only on his body as she tried to mix and match colors on him, she noticed a strange expression on his face. She blinked, actually looking at him now. "Hmm?"

"I knew you didn't I?" He asked, frowning as that anger faded just a bit, leaving irritation and confusion.

Kanaya merely smiled lightly, "That is correct. I would even venture to say that we were friends at some point in time, not in any quadrant together mind you, but still" She already knew about his memory loss, and frankly she was surprised he hadn't asked earlier, or maybe that he asked at all. Either way, she would prefer he remember things on his own rather than by her telling him.

"But enough dwelling, I'd rather you get to know me now, as if we just met" She added, and then flicked her eyes towards a rack, and began to dig through it, pulling out various shirts from the pile, and then going to another clothing circle, and carefully picking out pants.

From a wall of clothes behind Karkat, Gamzee's head would appear, slightly pulled back at an angle due to one of his horns getting caught on a coat with brown and white fur covering the entirety of it. Indigo eyes gave a blink at the male, before with a flick of the wrist, he tossed a scarf around Karkat's neck. The Capricorn then proceeded to give his head a tilt, before, "Nah, scarves don't really go with you bro. Unless shit's loose, show off your breath pipe," then he ducked back into the sea of clothes. Reappearing a few racks over and sorting through the items there, glancing up at Kanaya, "Hey sis, what am I keeping my see-holes out for?"

Kanaya distracted herself from picking out various outfits to watch Gamzee and Karkat, a curious look in her eyes as the gears in her well oiled mind began to churn faster. "Hm... Just about anything that you think would look good on him" She stated, and then had to think for a moment. "Karkat, you... are a small right?" She asked, mentally measuring him in her mind.

Karkat growled a little, taking that as some sort of obscure joke towards his height, seeing as both of the other trolls with him were taller than him. Kanaya was actually almost as tall as Gamzee, only a few inches shorter, and that was saying something. "...yes"

The Capricorn bit back a muffled laugh as he continued to dig and explore through the winter clothes section. After all, snow would be coming soon, and he didn't want his bro to become an angry mutant popsicle. He began to hum tunes as he sorted through the clothing, before a quick movement caught the corner of the male's eye. But when he looked, nothing was there. Gamzee gave a shrug, before he continued to look... and then again, another fast little movement.

Silence, before, "I'm in the think that there are mischievous smoke creatures running around," the indigo-blood spoke, eyes lingering one that last spot he had thought he'd seen the movement.

Kanaya continued to mentally inspect Karkat. He was certainly skinny enough to fit into a small, though she'd feel a lot better if she had exact measurements. That way she could just go by the size numbers rather than your classic Small, Medium, and Large (excluding the X's of course). She turned back to Gamzee, smiling faintly. "Those are some human children. By the way, I am going to go and get Karkat measured so I can get his exact sizes, I shall return with him shortly, is that okay?"

Gamzee gave a sort of slow blink. Children?... Oh right! Human wrigglers! He would have gone on a hunt for the little creatures, as when he focused he could just hear the sound of too quick foot steps. However, the second part of Kanaya's sentence, her question, cause him to pause, "Sure motherfucker, I don't up and see why it wouldn't be alright." From the little he talked to Kanaya, and the information he got from Tav, his understanding was that the green-blood could still be trusted, that she hadn't really changed at all. "Give me a word shout if I can do some wicked assisting."

"Perfect, and I'll make sure to keep that in mind" She responded, smiling again as she nodded her head and turned to Karkat, gently pushing him off towards the measuring room. This wasn't really a store, more-so a fashion depot, and she had done more than one job here. In fact, a lot of these clothing racks in the women's section had her work in them. The owners and workers here let her come and use things as she pleased, in fact, they preferred it when she worked here. It was great publicity for them to have her designs in their store, especially when it was on a rising wave of popularity.

Karkat complained the whole way there, but she didn't really listen, honestly it was like falling back comfortably into old habits. All it took to silence him was reminding him that, since he actually had no clothes of his own, he'd have to keep wearing Gamzee's if he didn't get new ones. The fact that he didn't correct her when she said it was Gamzee's only furthered her suspicions.

Funny, really, considering the fact that in the past, Karkat had been the one helping her with her relationship with Vriska, now it seemed she was going to have to look more into this 'moiraility' and help him out if she could.

While Kanaya took a griping Karkat away to take his measurements, Gamzee went about exploring more of the store. He partially kept an eye out for clothes that he thought might look good on his diamond brother, but for the most part, he seemed to be hunting down the tiny pink wrigglers who kept evading him with mischievous giggles. Man, tiny humans were quick! So he set up an ambush plan. Hiding in one of the circular racks he waited, listen to the quick patter of feet, and the giggled whisperings. Waiting until they got closer. Closer. Then he jumped out with a honk. Two little girls and a boy, varying from what looked like 2-4 sweeps old, squealed and gave a shriek, taking off away from Gamzee in fits of laughter. The Capricorn gave a smile, but before he could give chase, Kanaya's voice reached his ear holes.

"Hold on little sisters and brother, I'll be right motherfucking back," that smile of his twitched a fraction wider, as a distant 'Awww' came from the sea of clothes, before he navigated towards the room Kanaya had occupied. It took him a moment to find it, trying a few doors, before the right one was discovered. Gamzee knew this, because he recognized the voices on the other side of it. He gave a permissive knock, waited for acceptance to enter, then cracked open the door and poked his head in. "Hey Sis, you-" he blinked.

Oh look, a half-naked Karkat.

Karkat was seething, his face red and his hands curled up into fists.

"Did I really need to take off the fucking shirt? I don't see how it got in any gogdamn way!" He demanded, his face red thanks to the fact that he was currently dressed in only his boxers, standing on a small pedestal that made him taller by only half a foot, a mound of measuring tape at his feet. Those pointed teeth of his were snapping together angrily.

"I already informed you that I can get more accurate measurements with as little clothing as possible getting in the way. This way I can assure your clothes be the most comfortable they can be with accurate sizes" Kanaya stated simply, and then looked over to the door and waved Gamzee in. "Hello Gamzee, I just need your help holding some of the tapes in place. Normally I have an assistant help me, but since you were here I figured you could help, if that's not a problem?"

Karkat turned to look at the door, first a blank look on his face, and then he flared even more red, his expression churning to rage as he focused his gaze forward, pretending he wasn't embarrassed as all hell standing in front of two of his friends almost fucking naked.

A touch of indigo came through from under the paint on Gamzee's face, but it was followed by a relaxed smile as the Capricorn entered, closing the door lightly behind him. "No problem Kanaya, I'd be all up and happy to lay down some wicked assistance." The highblood stepped to one side for a moment, and in the small pause that waited for the fashionable troll to direct him, a small sentence came out, "Man best friend, strife's been treating you all kinds of well. No need to get all blush-faced."

After a rather sour retort from Karkat to Gamzee to shut the hell up and not fucking comment on anything, Kanaya went to work. Really she just needed Gamzee to hold a few things in place while she took measurements of his chest, waist, shoulders, and several on his arms, and then wrote them down in a notebook she had gathered from a desk nearby with some writing supplies. She was a pro at this by now, and she could get it done in a matter of minutes, especially if they were just measurements for shirts, but she had the leg measurements to do now.

"Gamzee, could you please hold this here so I can measure his leg length?"She asked, pulling out a long stretch of measuring tape and holding it near the rim of Karkat's boxers on his right side, where the hem of the pants would normally sit.

There was a split second where the Capricorn hesitated, followed by a look of confusion. Though it wasn't directed at Kanaya, more at himself. Why did he pause? Gamzee gave a silent nod, honoring Karkat's demand for him to shut up and not comment for the time being, as three fingers extended to press the measuring tape in place at Karkat's hip. The Capricorn's brows furrowed further. Huh. It was strange, although he had been standing in this room for a short while now and helping, this was the first time it actually felt kind of awkward to him. Gamzee shifted somewhat at the foreign feeling, easy smile staying firm on his lips, as his head gave a curious tilt to observe Kanaya as she measured.

Kanaya took the final measurement she needed, and smiled, nodding her head. "Thank you Gamzee, and Karkat, for not moving around so much, you can go get dressed now"

"FUCKING FINALLY" Karkat raged, jumping away from both trolls, and practically running over to the clothes he had been kinda forced to take off, slipping them back on with lightning speed, covering himself back up again. His face was still flushing red even as he sat down to put his shoes back on.

Kanaya merely smiled, resorting to her notebook and making some very quick changes and calculations in her head, memorizing the numbers with rather amazing accuracy and getting the size shaped in her head. Yes, she had done good with the clothes she picked out. And, on top of that, got to observe these two just a tad bit more. "That's all I was in need off, now we can go back to picking out clothes, though I would appreciate it if you could abscond to the changing rooms to at least try some of these outfits on so I can see what they look like on you"

Gamzee was leaning against one of the walls, hands shoved comfortably in the pockets of his black and indigo patterned hoody. "Would you mind best friend? The sooner we get this shit done, the sooner we can head back to Skaia... but shit, maybe we should stop for munchies on the way back. A motherfucking thank you to sis." that fanged smile grew, as the Capricorn gave an at ease honk, head tilting curiously as Karkat slipped the rest of his clothing on. Hiding the slight amusement that flickered through that haze, that he would have to take them off again anyway.

Karkat just growled, still rather upset with the whole fucking situation (when was he not?) but grudingly took the damn clothes Kanaya held out in her arms, and stomped off towards the dressing rooms, grumbling under his breath the whole way.

The second he was gone, Kanaya turned towards Gamzee. "I take it you two have aimed to reclaim moiraility?" She asked, her tone making it seem as though she didn't believe it.

Gamzee gave a few blinks in surprise at the rather... abrupt question that had appeared as soon as the Cancer had gotten out of ear shot. But he had no issue answering it, shifting his weight from one foot to another, and brow raising at Kanaya's disbelieving tone, "Well, yeah. Karkat may not all up and remember everything, but hell, we've been situated and comfortable with being diamond brothers so far."

"I see, though, do you ever remember blushing around Karkat when we were all younger? Before this happened? I could see it beneath your makeup"

"... I was getting face flushes?" Gamzee stared past Kanaya at the wall, eyes narrowed in thought, trudging through a surprisingly thick haze. "Shit, I wonder why I'd all up and do that? But no, to get some answering with your question, I don't got any remember doing that in my earlier time line. Sometimes my memory ain't all jingling pretty though."

Kanaya let a light sigh escape her green painted lips. She had forgotten how weird it was talking to Gamzee, even when they were younger she had never really spoke to him. "Do you think that, maybe-" She began, but was interrupted as Karkat came back out.

He didn't look too pleased, dressed in a pair of black jeans, matching shoes with hints of red on the sides of them, and a dark gray shirt with red lines running up the sides and black surrounding them in an interesting, 'mechanical' styled pattern. As much as she'd love to dress him up in more red (he was one of the few trolls who actually looked good in it) she knew he didn't like the color, so only a little bit here and there. She didn't want to get him these clothes only for him to not wear them.

"Damn brother, you look motherfucking fancy." Gamzee grinned, straightening up slightly and giving his head a curious tilt. Kanaya certainly knew her stuff, everything looked as though it fit comfortably, and it looked good on the irritated male. He kind of wished there was more red, the Capricorn liked that color, but he had to remember Karkat wasn't too partial to it. What with the whole, mutant culling thing. "Feels snug and huggable?"

Karkat snarled, and then let his expression fall into a simple frown, tugging at the shirt just a bit. "I... Guess it fits okay" He answered in a somewhat reluctant voice.

"I approve of that look as well, you can get into the next one, but make sure to set that one aside so that we know which ones we're buying and which ones will be put back" Kanaya instructed, nodding her head as she scanned the outfit carefully. Personally she felt like she could do much better, and as much as she did want to kinda go all out, she had to remember this was Karkat. He had a tenancy to just throw on the first clean clothes he could get his hands on in the morning. So she had to be a little flexible and pick shirts and pants that would go well with just about anything even remotely matching the colors.

She did have a goal to get one outfit in there comprised mostly of red though, if she could manage it.

Karkat just rolled his eyes, not letting that frown leave his face as he turned around, grumbling as he headed back to the changing rooms.

Kanaya turned back to Gamzee, continuing where she had left off, "Have you at all considered that your emotions for him may have changed, or maybe his emotions have changed for you?"

"Changed?" there was that uncomfortable tug again inside the highblood's chest, "Well shit sis I don-" 


	61. Bullshit Emotional Babble

"Changed?" there was that uncomfortable tug again inside the highblood's chest, "Well shit sis I don-"

_Valus sighed, bringing a hand to her head, tangling her fingers in her bangs as she tried to make Gamzee see reason. "Okay look, I'm not asking you to break all contact with him again. But at least be mindful of what you do. For example, him sleeping in your room gives off an... impression."_

_Blank blinks from Gamzee, "Impression?"_

_"If you are not moirails, and you obviously do not hate him, or are acting as an auspice, what does that leave."_

But that conversation had been null and void, Karkat had accepted him back as a moirail so there shouldn't be any question to their position with each other. Right? "Unless Karkat has started to get some black emotions for me, I'm not in the think that anything's changed. Shit, he hasn't has he? Fuck, I don't think I could all up and do any caliginous infections with my brother." Man, he didn't think he could bring any willing harm to the Cancer.

Kanaya couldn't help it, she face-palmed. "That's not what I meant, try the opposite of that"

A long stare came from Gamzee, before, "Kanaya, we're already best motherfucking friends." The opposite of black emotions, was red emotions, and the Capricorn was already in a pale red quadrant with Karkat.

Facepalm X2 Combo go.

Kanaya's other hand jerked up to meet the first, both cupping her face now, before she let them fall, taking care to not smudge her makeup. "No, Gamzee, what I meant was-" Karkat was back out again, she stopped mid-sentence, and at once began to speculate this new outfit.

He was now dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans, the same shoes as before, and a dark gray tank top with a simple black windbreaker over it, hints of red here and there in the stitching and hems of it. It was more of an autumn outfit than a winter one.

Kanaya stared for a while, before shaking her head, "Hmm... No, I don't like the jacket, go see if you can find another one"

He apparently had given up arguing at this point, just turning around with that glare still on his face and leaving once more.

"What I meant was that I've seen Karkat before all this mess began, how he interacted with Terezi before they stopped being Matesprits. He's acting like he's red for you, not pale red, but red"

Gamzee's mind hit a brick wall. Full on, face-first, high velocity, slam. Indigo eyes were wide as he went real quiet, simply staring at Kanaya as all thought process for a moment, went white, went blank. His green blooded sister... thought Karkat was... behaving red for him? Red as in flushed, as in-no that couldn't be right. Gamzee's brows furrowed together in confusion. How could the Cancer be red for him? More often than not it seemed like he was frightening Karkat, or the male was saving other people and trolls from him. Hell, even he knew he was a nuisance, and lucky that he had friends that would tolerate him. But for someone to feel anything further, especially Karkat... hell, even Goatdad hadn't been able to stand being with him for long periods of time."Shit sis, I don't know about that."

"I am very sure" Kanaya proclaimed, nodding her head again as she let her hands rest at her sides. So much time with her own matesprit had led to an ability to decipher emotions like puzzle pieces, she wasn't as good at it as Rose was, of course, but she still had some skill, especially with someone she knew very well.

"You should take a look at your own actions as well, I've never seen you blush around anyone before. Ever. But you blushed when you saw him in only his boxers, even though I know for a fact that you've never really been bothered by things like that, at least not before"

Hesitation came from the indigo blood again, because Kanaya was right about that. Things like nudity, and other forms of freedom and shit, didn't up and bother him in the slightest. Hell, all the power to his brothers and sisters who wanted get intimate with the world and all it's motherfucking beauty. "It still doesn't get any bother going with me. But Karkat ain't just anyone Kanaya, he's my best friend. Isn't... that situated and normal to be a bit awkward around a brother I got so much know about?"

"It's not normal for moirails, even ones as strange as you two, to sleep in the same room, I know that" Kanaya pointed out. As for how she knew that... well... "Sollux has filled me in on some of what has been going on"

"Well... I guess so. But Karkat all up and seems to sleep better when he's getting wicked Z's in my room. Like all his fucking night terrors take a nap with him." Wait, hold on. Bipolar brother and fashionable sister had been up and exchanging words? "Sas Sollux informing you of how he didn't know I slept all free of oppressing clothing, and we was all, conversing and shoulder patt-" Gamzee didn't notice that half-way through his sentence, Karkat had stepped out of the dressing room again. Immediately indigo eyes turned to the male, thoughtful. Before he gave an awkward shift in his weight, lop-sided grin still coming back over his lips as he quickly shoved those odd thoughts back into the fog. It looked like Karkat hadn't put on anything new. "What's all wrong and up brother?"

Okay, so apparently Gamzee was talking to Kanaya about sleeping naked. Awkward. He just stared at the two for a moment, eyes narrowed in an irritated manner as he debated mentally with himself on whether to comment or not. He decided to just shut his fucking mouth because he really didn't want to know. "I can't find a jacket I like"

Kanaya rolled her eyes, stepping towards Karkat, "I'll continue my conversation with you later, Gamzee. Now come on Karkat one of those jackets I picked out has to be more to your tastes" She stated, gently leading him back into the changing room, this time going in with him. What a perfect opportunity to speak with him about this whole issue now.

Gamzee gave a few blinks after them, and when they were out of sight, a hand came up to run through that tangled mess he called his hair. Man, what had brought all of that up? _'He's acting like he's red for you, not pale red, but red'_ a slight flush came under his cheeks again. '_You should take a look at your own actions as well, I've never seen you blush around anyone before._' That uncomfortable feeling was back, and he swallowed, as if the action would rinse it away. _'It's not normal for moirails, even ones as strange as you two, to sleep in the same room.'_ Yeah, but it was if doing so was to help their moirail... right? Besides, only one of those times Karkat had actually slept in the same location, and he had been drunk and in need of the company. Or so Gamzee had thought.

Kanaya seemed to think Karkat was red for him... and that he felt the same. Shit, he was protective of the Cancer, but given the situation and his blood color, that had to be normal to right? And then how Karkat's touch could calm him, and how him holding onto him, or the male holding on to his arm had the same effect... Mirthful hell he was getting a headache. Sis was probably just, looking too motherfucking deep into things. He needed to focus on his brother now. Find him some nice cloth wears for the coming snow season.

From the depths of the changing room, a single, clear, angry voice could be heard.

"I AM NOT GOING TO FUCKING TALK ABOUT FEELINGS WITH YOU IT'S BAD ENOUGH I GOT PULLED INTO THIS SHOPPING BULLSHIT"

Gamzee jumped, hair standing up at the back of his neck and a honk of surprise coming from that easy smile. There were a couple of glances from other shoppers, one parent in paritcular glaring over at the dressing rooms and ushering her children away. Another adult mumbled under her breath before moving to the far side of the room herself, while Gamzee simply stood blinking for a few more seconds, before he glanced over his own shoulder. Woah, what did Sis say to set his Bro off? Man, what if something bad happened and Karkat needed him? Still looking through the clothes, he navigated closer to the changing rooms, just in case

"I highly advise lowering your voice, Karkat, I wouldn't want to bring this up if I didn't have such strong suspicions"

"Bring what up?"

"I know you. Since we were younger I've always come to you for advice and now I feel it's time I return the favor. I seriously believe that you need to tell Gamzee how you feel"

"There is nothing to fucking say and I don't even know what you're talking about!"

"So you're telling me that you aren't the least bit confused about your own emotions being red or pale when concerning him?"

Silence.

Gamzee was frozen. Hold on, the words were a little muffled, but it sounded like... Kanaya was talking to Karkat about him now?

"I...I don't see how it matters either way! I'm his fucking moirail, and that's it"

"That is a definite yes coming from you"

"I said it doesn't fucking matter! I can't believe I'm saying this but how about we focus on the gogdamn clothes like I was dragged here for?"

"Because this issue is a little more important than that. Despite the fact that you can't remember, I am your friend, and I don't want to see you get hurt"

The indigo blood didn't know what to do. A part of him felt as though he should leave, that this conversation was private. But... when he sent those command signals to his feet they stayed planted, unmoving. He kept his eyes forward, staring at the wall opposite to the dressing rooms.

"Well it's my shit to deal with, not yours!"

"I feel it's unfair"

"Life is fucking unfair"

"Are you saying that you plan to just ignore the fact that you feel red for Gamzee?"

"Yes! Wait, I mean no! I never fucking said I felt red for him!"

"You didn't have to, your hesitation and unwillingness to answer me are enough"

The noise of an angry and indignant growl was Karkat's only answer to that.

"I'm still not hearing a no"

Gamzee swallowed, he wasn't hearing one either. Shit, there had to be another reason for it though. Fuck off confused thoughts, get back in the haze where shit's supposed to be jumbled. He needed to stop listening. Karkat said he didn't care for some of the coats Kanaya picked out, maybe he could up and find one. Focus on something else... the coats were by the dressing rooms. Mirthful hell.

"Okay fine! So what if I'm a little bit fucking confused on what I feel? I'm his moirail, not his matesprit, I shouldn't even consider the fact that I feel red!"

"I-"

"No, I'm fucking done talking about it. Just pick out a fucking jacket and let's get this over with"

A sigh, but Kanaya seemed to give into his demands now, feeling as though she had gotten out of him all she was going to get. There were noises of shuffling around now.

The Capricorn backed up, eyes wide. Kanaya had been right, Karkat really was confused about how he felt about him. So wait, did that mean she was right about him to? A headache throbbed in his think pan, that uncomfortable feeling in his gut tightening, as when the shuffling in the dressing room grew slightly more pronounced, he turned to shuffle through the clothes. Poking his head in as he investigated the rack. Fuck, he'd never up and felt full on red for anyone before, he didn't know the emotions or any shit like that that came with it. Once upon a time he thought he may have had that kind of feeling for Tavros... and maybe he had. Back then the twist in his abdomen had certainly been there, though it didn't stay long after he had been rejected and silently moved on.

Wow, this black coat with white and gray hexagons was kind of motherfucking interesting.


	62. Sick of the Bitching

Karkat looked angry as all hell when he stomped out of the dressing rooms, clad in a different pair of shoes now (smallish black boots that complimented the jeans nicely, or so Kanaya claimed) and a black jacket with dark gray stripes going horizontally over the back and sides. "You assholes are making me feel like a fucking dress up doll" he spat, obviously not pleased with the conversation he had just had, or the situation.

"To be fair Karkat you do actually have-"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT" He snapped, pointing an accusing finger at her before she could say anything about his appearance because he might flip the fuck out if she did that after making him stand in front of her and Gamzee with almost nothing on.

Silence came from Gamzee, before he popped his head back out from the coat rack, all friendly smile and lazy gaze, "Find a coat you could be all nice and pretty in brother?" Everything about the Capricorn was chilled, shoulders slumped, arms loose, eyes hazed, "Woah, wicked nice stripes."

"I am not a girl, I don't find clothes to be 'pretty' in" He snapped back as a response, causing Kanaya to roll her eyes.

Truth be told, she was well aware it was her fault for his even worse mood that before, but at the same time, she knew it was important. She wanted him to be happy, Gamzee too, and if it took a little bit of a rough patch to do that, she was willing to put up with it, even if she didn't want him to reject her after all this time apart.

"Let's try some more outfits, you can go ahead and put that one in the pile as well, try one of the more winter ones, a long sleeved shirt, Maybe?" She offered, giving a light, easy smile as if she had just not been talking to him about his flushed feelings for Gamzee.

Karkat turned around quickly, stalking back into the dressing room, and slamming the door behind him.

The next few hours shopping, went buy without event. Kanaya didn't breach a certain touchy subject in that time, and both the male's seemed more than happy to drop it. Gamzee had grown bored with looking at the clothes, only really focusing when Karkat reappeared to show how the outfits appeared on him and either getting approval or dissproval from Kanaya (with the occasional side-comment from Gamzee). The Capricorn himself never really matched his clothes. He bought whatever he liked, and wore it with whatever he wanted. But man, he wanted Karkat to have the option to dress all bad ass and leader like if he wanted. Not to mention that... shit, Kanaya knew what to pick out that made his bro look good.

And there were those thoughts again. Gamzee closed his eyes as he was lying silent and patient, on a table display of other outfits. He wasn't irritated at Kanaya, but he really wished his green blooded sister hadn't brought anything up. Because now he was having all kinds of issues not thinking about it. Karkat had always been there for him, with or without his memory. So yeah, he fucking cared about him, and the thought of anyone bringing harm to him was enough to sober him up real motherfucking quick but... Okay, he had an idea for a little test. Behind closed eyelids he slipped back into his mind, pulling up from the mist an image. Shaping legs, waist, chest, arms, hands, head, and of course, those nub-like horns. Shaping an image of Karkat with the extra tendrils of slime tinted fog.

He could bring up every detail of his bro, and in his mind put him in any outfit, any clothing. But for some reason his think pan decided to leave him in what he had woken Karkat up in. Okay, no big deal, he did once all up and say that indigo looked good on Karkat, though the shirt was primarily white (and that was besides the point). Gamzee's brows furrowed slightly and he focused. Alright, deep breath and give it a try. It was, kind of awkward to be thinking of Karkat in this way, but in his mind he brushed his claws along the male's jaw, careful so the pointed tips didn't break the surface of that gray flesh. He swallowed, curling his fingers in the male's hair, and blinked directly into those wild red eyes. Well fuck, he got this far, and it was just an image all in his head. So with an exhale of air he leaned down until his breath was ghosting over Karkat's lips.

"Woah!" Indigo eyes flew wide as Gamzee lurched to one side, succeeding in falling off of the table, and dragging some of the once neatly folded clothes with him. The rough carpet floor did little to cushion his landing, as the male stared at the floor of the store somewhat sideways. Before he swallowed, braced his hands against the ground, and pushed himself up, head bowed and face concealed by that mass of curled hair. A memory came to him, of that morning after the club, where he had been tempted to both push Karkat away, and pull him closer. He still didn't know why he wanted to push him away. To protect him from getting too close, just in case shit did go bad? If that was the case, why did he also want to hold him? Fuck, his head was hurting again.

In Karkat's case, he had already come to a conclusion with this current dilemma, and the solution was going to stay the same as before, even with Kanaya's meddling; ignore it. He was really fucking good at ignoring things about himself. But still, she brought it up and it made him feel all awkward as fuck, so to distract his brain from thinking about that stupid fucking nonsense, he just focused on how much he fucking HATED shopping.

Kanaya seemed to be able to sense that, after a certain point, both the males were getting antsy with the situation, and proposed a solution. "Hmm... You know, it's getting close to lunch time, you guys wanna take a break and get something to eat? I know a few places nearby that we could easily just walk to"

Gamzee became alert immediately, "Fuck yeah Sis!" straightening from where he had attempted to fold clothes back onto a table that he had explained to Kanaya and Karkat he had simply ran into, the Capricorn glanced from one to the other with that smile made larger by the clown paint, "What kind of nutritional obstructions procreate around this navigational location? Man, I could get some re-energizing goin for anything."

Kanaya thought for a moment, she was pretty sure Gamzee and Karkat didn't want to go to any fancy kind of restaurant, but that still left a lot of choices. "Hmm... well I do know of a good pizza joint nearby that I've often visited, plus they have a wide range of choices" She offered, of course, she'd be paying for the meal, and wouldn't have it any other way. Gamzee already got his way with paying for the clothes (they had argued some about it as Kanaya herself was rather rich thanks to her career and status) and Karkat was kinda on the poor side.

"I don't mind getting some pizza" Karkat pipped up, expression utterly blank with that hint of annoyance in it, though it was somewhat dimmed by the fact that they were going to take a damn break from this stupid clothes shopping nonsense.

"Wicked, pizza devouring it is. Shall we all up and get some payment for what we've got our select going around so far before navigating over?" Gamzee inquired with that same grin.

Kanaya nodded, "That would be easiest, rather than leaving what we have picked out so far here" She mused, agreeing with the first option. "We can pack them into the van so we don't have to carry them with us too"

Gamzee gave his own agreeing nod as well. "Motherfucking sweet sis, lead on."

It took only five minutes to reach the register with the clothes they had picked out and get them all scanned and paid for. Kanaya managed to skillfully distract Karkat from the register while Gamzee paid, knowing he may very well have some sort of fit if he knew. And after that, they all helped by carrying the bags of clothes towards the van, Kanaya opened the back, and they piled them in, shut the back and locked it up again, and then headed off down the street.

Obviously Kanaya led the way, as she knew her way around this general area, while Gamzee and Karkat walked behind her. Gamzee was pretty much talking the entire time, almost wandered off from them both had Karkat not been keeping track of him (and getting incredibly annoyed by him). About anything really, mostly the incredible variety of stores in this area. Kanaya was actually rather grateful when the pizza store finally came into sight. Not that she didn't like Gamzee, she just... wasn't really used to being around him, or anyone who was talkative really.

"Ah! We're here!" She stated, stopping as she motioned towards the store, a gentle smile on her face as she walked inside, leading the two trolls after her. "What do you two want? I have enough to get us all a separate pizza if our tastes differ"

Gamzee had his head lent forward, peering curiously around the building, and giving a curious sniff of the smell of bread, cheese, and sauces that hung comfortable and warm. It took him all of a second to decide what he wanted, "Shit sis, I'm feeling all kinds of growling carnivorous. I'll take a circular cooked meal with one of every beast, and some flaming red peppers.

Kanaya nodded, and turned towards the counter, repeating Gamzee's order (wording it significantly differently though), and then her own, asking for a pineapple pizza, something she was actually pretty fond of even though most people seemed to not like it, and then turned to Karkat. "What do you want?"

Karkat seemed to think for a moment, scanning the menu with the list of pizzas they had, before spotting a rather odd one that he actually recognized. "Gorgonzola and Grape Pizza" He answered, nodding, and not seeming to realize how fucking weird his voice was. It was actually something Terezi had gotten all the time back when they were still together. He would never admit that her fetish for weird as hell foods was somewhat contagious because it spread to him.

Kanaya raised an eyebrow, "I've never heard of that before, but... I guess... okay if they have it" She answered somewhat hesitantly, to be honest, it didn't sound the best to her, but she repeated the order anyway, got a table number, and paid.

The Capricorn gave a stretch, arms above his head, parallel to his horns as his back popped comfortably into place, before hands crossed behind his head and rested there, as they walked to their designated table. It appeared as if they got a table next to the big and fancy television device. Wicked. Gamzee slid into the booth, getting nice and comfy in the too compliant cushions as he crossed his arms over the table. "Man, what kind of nutritional treats are on a Gorgonzola and Grape pizza? Besides the motherfucking grapes, I get that those little fuckers occupy it by it's chosen name."

"I'm not sure, a lot of places make it differently, but most of the time it's just a mix of two or more different types of cheese, the grapes, and some black peppers" Karkat responded, leaning forward on the table, propping his head up by leaning his cheek against his hand. The REALLY fancy places would also throw in just a touch of wine in it to give it a certain spike in sweetness, but most places didn't do that unless you asked.

"That's an odd variety flavors. I'll have to get some taste test on such a selection some time." Gamzee grinned, before a series of bings and beeps came from his pocket, causing the male to jump. Oops, he forgot he had his cell phone on. With a curious hum of the lips, he pulled the device out, and brought it up to his ear hello, "Hey mot-"

_'WHERE IN THE MERCIFUL HELL OF THE NETHERWORLD ARE YOU!' _

Gamzee jerked the phone away from his ear blinking at the device in shock. Woah, someone was maaaaaad. With a little apprehension, he hesitantly put the phone back his ear.

"Woah Valus, cool your tits. I'm out with my diamond brother and a wicked sister."

_'YOU COULDN'T HAVE TOLD ONE OF US WHERE YOU WERE GOING! I'VE BEEN SEARCH-'_ there was the brief sound of a struggle from the other side of the line. The voice of one Jarren growling and yelling at the elegant female about one thing or another, before Valus got back on the phone, _'Because someone's a sensitive wriggler, I must correct myself. I've been having Jarren search all over the campus, because we didn't know where you went, what happened to you, or if you were going on a rampage.' _

A laugh came from Gamzee, "Nah sis, everything's chill as an ice chandelier on this end."

_'Well... good I suppose. At least you are being supervised and with another entity along side Vantas.' _

"Fuck yeah, we're in good motherfucking hands with my wicked bitchtits of a green-blooded sister."

_'Green bloo-... another lowblood Gamzee, really?' _

"Nah Val, she's the rare green, making her extra wicked," he gave a laughing wink at Kanaya then, before a long pause came from the phone. Before the elegant troll was yelling again. Gamzee jerked the phone from his ear again and gave a sigh, turning the volume on the phone down and setting it to the side, leaving it on so Valus could rant to thin air as he smiled and glanced to Kanaya, "Valus is this one fucking friend of mine, that get's a lot of worry going for no apparent reasons," he explained, all chill smiles and half-lowered gaze.

Karkat stared at the phone for a while, able to hear the slight hum of Valus flipping her fucking ass off, before he finally stood up, leaning over the table and grabbing the phone. "I'm going to borrow this for a moment" He stated simply, swiping the phone up, turning the volume back up, and bringing it to his ear. "Valus shut the fuck up for one second" he intoned simply into the speaking device, ignoring the googly eyed look that Kanaya threw at him.

Gamzee had a look of his own, but his was more of amused curiosity. He didn't seem to mind in the slightest that the Cancer had nabbed his phone, just waited all nice and patient, wondering what exactly was going through Karkat's head.

On the other line, there came a long pause, followed by 'What do you want, Vantas,' the voice of the female made no attempt to hide her contempt.

"I understand that you're Gamzee's friend and all, but stop acting like his fucking lusus. Just because he vanishes for one day or for a few hours, that doesn't mean anything fucking bad has happened. He's grown up now, and though I can't believe I'm saying this of all people, he CAN take care of himself to a certain extent"

He paused here, taking in a breath. "On top of that, I'm right fucking here, trust me when I tell you that your voice, even over the phone, is like driving toothpicks in my fucking auditory ducts. Try to lower the gogdamn volume. It's really fucking insulting to hear you sit there and bitch bitch bitch about _'lowbloods nyehhhh~'_. Here's some advice, DEAL WITH IT YOU CONTEMPTUOUS BITCH. You don't see me going around spouting off how much all fucking highbloods in existance are retarded buldge suckers"

and with that, he clicked the 'end call' button, and handed the phone back to Gamzee.


	63. Pizza and Dreams

Gamzee took the phone back with a surprised blink, before laughter bubbled freely from the male, his head dipping down slightly as his shoulders shook with the effort to contain the mirthful sound. With a light plop he set his phone back down on the table easy grin still in place as he leaned back with a deep breath, chest still lightly shaking with amusement at the laughs that stay contained there. Man, that had been the wickedest thing he had ever seen. His brother was layered in all kinds of serious bad-assery, to both talk to a highblood like that, and be apparently perfectly find with doing so. "Shit bro, I bet Val is turning all kinds of purple. I hope my twirly motherfucker has already absconded, or else he's in for some serious hurt." Of course he wasn't upset in the slightest, the elegantInformer had it coming.

"I don't get why she takes out everything on Jarren, she needs to learn some anger coping skills" Like Karkat had any knowledge about coping with anger, the mere thought was laughable, but yelling a lot was how he coped with it.

Kanaya's face was bright green, and as much as she wanted to scold Karkat for going off like that on someone, she knew she'd just get a glare and an angry retort in response. Besides, he knew more about the situation and about this... Valus... than she did, so she would like to... assume that this response was very deserved, even though she would have argued that it could have been worded a lot more politely.

"I got the know about that. She always get's her target on him, because if anything, that bro is resilient as a motherfucker. Like a life cycle best friend, he just keeps up and going." Indigo eyes turned towards the ceiling for a moment as the Capricorn leaned back, giving a light hum at a memory that came forth. Lips twitching for a brief second into what could have been a frown, though it vanished with the same speed. Before another small laugh came from the highblood, "Don't be all up and too surprised if he suddenly jumps ya for a strife duel this week. He's been kind of getting some crazy itches about a rematch since his leg's all healed and pretty now."

"I'm surprised he waited until his leg healed to want a rematch" Karkat pointed out simply, and was about to continue talking, but was interrupted as a waitress came over, all smiles and giggles, setting their pizzas down, wishing them a nice lunch, and then asking if any of them wanted a drink.

"fuck... just some pop I guess, mountain dew or whatever"

Kanaya managed to recover herself enough to respond as well. "Just some water please"

The waitress turned to Gamzee, giving him a vibrant smile, "Anything for you sir?"

The indigo blood gave a few blinks, before he returned her smile with one of his own, "Man, I could really go for some sweet ass strawberry faygo if you got any in your stores."

The waitress gave a sincere frown, "oh, we don't have any faygo, but we do have strawberry shakes if your interested in that instead!"

Gamzee gave a small hum of disappointment, though that bright grin returned whenever she mentioned a strawberry shake, "Alright, I can get some thirst quenching love going for a shake. Thanks lady face."

"no problem~! I'll have all of your beverages back in just a second!" And with that, she absconded off, taking a few other orders before returning to the counter.

Karkat was pretty much the first to dig into his pizza, grabbing one of the slices right out of the box and shoving nearly half of it into his mouth. No one could ever accuse him of having good table manners. But then again, he was also totally not starving from another fucking binge of not eating for days at a time again.

The Capricorn simply gave a laugh as he bit into his own pizza, not even blinking through the double whammy combo of fresh food out of the oven, and chopped spicy red peppers. Actually, he seemed to appreciate the taste, giving a happy hum through his mouthful of sausage, hamburger, pepperoni, sardine, Canadian bacon, and other such meats. Through a second, then third bite, his cell phone vibrated and binged again, drawing Gamzee's attention. He flicked open the device, pizza in one hand, phone in the other, as he skimmed over the text message.

AT: hEY GAMZEE, hOW'S THE UH,,, oUTING THING GOING,

That smile over the Indigo-blood's face grew a fraction wider as he swallowed the current foot in his mouth, before shoving the rest of that slice of pizza in there, chewing it all easy enough as he successfully freed his other hand up to text back.

TC: It's gOiNg gReAt bRo. We gOt sOmE WiShArMzIcAl wEaViNgS FoR KaRkAt, AnD ArE Up aNd hAvInG A NuTrItIoN FuElInG SeSsIoN NoW.

AT: tHAT SOUNDS, wICKED,

TC: HoNk hOnK : o)

AT: i'LL WELL

AT: lEAVE YOU TO IT THEN, wOULD YOU BE IN THE MIND TO, uM, gET IN SERIOUS CONTACTS WITH ME LATER,

AT: i'VE GOT SOME, hARSH FIRES, tO SCHOOL FEED TO YOUR, eAR HOLES,

TC: FuCk yEaH BrO, i'm aLl fOr gEtTiNg hEfTy fEeDiNgS. sEnD YoU WoRdS LaTeR My sIcK MoThErFuCkInG BrO. HoNk

The phone was set down again, and another slice of pizza brought to the Capricorn's lips. Yeah, this was kind of nice, kind of nostalgic as well.

Kanaya was eating her pizza in a far more dignified manner than the two male trolls, a nervous smile on her face as she did so. "You two, if you keep eating like that you'll get yourselves sick" She pointed out, taking a bite out of one of her own slices.

Karkat glared at her with half closed eyes, mouth filled with pizza, while he finished chewing and swallowed. "I haven't eaten in a while and I'm fucking hungry" He stated simply, shoving the remaining half of the pizza into his mouth (bad move) and having to struggle a little to keep it all in as he chewed, swallowing it piece by piece. Okay, he forgot that the other half of the pizza was a lot bigger. Maybe he should eat a little slower, before he ended up choking or something.

Gamzee gave a hasty swallow of his own food, before responding as well, holding back a laugh at the look on Karkat's face after he had shoved too much food in his mouth, "I'll be all good sis. I haven't gotten any illness around since my fifth sweep. The Sopor has acted like a... motherfucking shield in my protein sack." Another bite of pizza, though this one wasn't as large, smile still lopsided on his face. Hey, may as well slow down for a little bit, at least until his shake joined the little food party.

As if she was magically responding to Gamzee's thoughts, the same waitress as before showed up, three drinks on her tray which she rapidly set down in front of each troll, "A water, a mountain dew, and a strawberry shake~! Enjoy!" She stated, giving them a girlish wave, her ponytail whipping to the side, as she turned and stalked off, delivering more drinks and taking some more orders, not even waiting for a thank you.

Karkat ignored the drink for now, instead going for a second slice of pizza (this time taking a significantly smaller bite). Whereas Kanaya picked up her water and used it to soak down the pizza she had just swallowed. She highly doubted she'd be able to eat this whole thing, considering she didn't, A; starve herself or B; consume sopor slime.

The rest of the meal went at a leisurely pace, with few more words passing between them as they each enjoyed their meals in their own way. After everything was finished, Kanaya asserted herself to Gamzee once more that she insisted on paying for the food. The Capricorn caved after only a brief disagreement, giving an easy smile as he stood and followed after the green-blooded she-troll, waiting for Karkat before they exited out of the building. The walk back to the clothes store was a bit more subdued than the walk to the pizza parlor. With food digesting in Gamzee's belly, he was a bit more relaxed, and only voiced vocal curiosities, instead of attempting to abscond and investigate every interesting thing he saw.

The same could be said for the shopping. Instead of wandering around the entire store, Gamzee stayed in one spot for the most part. Often zoning out and staring at a clothing display or sign for long periods of time, while Kanaya and Karkat did their thing. A few times Kanaya tried to speak with him again about the whole... Cancer red for him and Capricorn possibly red back thing. To which Gamzee put his whole, reputation for being (as Karkat might put it) a sopor fucked idiot, to use. He didn't know if she attempted to bring it up with the Cancer again, but he knew for the most part she dropped it with him. For now anyway. Once winter clothing was out of the way, there next came spring, and then a couple of summer items just in case. The grand total price for all the clothing would have made one's head spin, but Gamzee still denied Kanaya's offer to help pay. In truth, the Capricorn was impressed that Karkat had went through to the end.

It was relief, as the last of the clothes were packed into Kanaya's van, along with all three trolls, for everything to get rolling again. What wasn't expected, was the rather awkward silence that fell over the vehicle, so it was with little surprise that the first 10 minutes, felt like an hour. Gamzee gave a shift not bothering to stifle a yawn that came from his lips as he silently watched the world pass by outside of the window.

Karkat was more than happy to just let the silence stretch into nothing, playing a game of 'look for weird fucking shapes in the clouds' with himself to keep his mind occupied so he didn't have to think about anything, what Kanaya had brought up, what happened just a few nights ago, the fact that it very well might happen again. He was actually starting to nod off a little, but seeing as waking up screaming in the car would probably be a good method for startling Kanaya into the ditch, he often moved around, keeping himself awake.

It wasn't until he heard a distinct 'thunk!" noise, and felt something somewhat heavy land on his lap that he snapped fully to attention, looked down, and felt his face flush red.

Gamzee did not just fucking pass out right onto his lap did he? Oh fucking hell he did. He had two, instant thoughts, to shove Gamzee's head off his lap, or just let him lay there. He was halfway to moving his hands to shove him onto the floor of the van when he suddenly stopped, a raging expression on his face as he glared at Kanaya, leaving Gamzee where he was.

"Not a single fucking word"

The slip from the waking world, to one of dreams, had been so casual that Gamzee had hardly noticed it. One moment he had been simply looking at the world as it passed by, the next he was standing at the edge of the ocean, looking out over the churning waves. Behind him rose jagged cliffs, the color of which was a rustic ground. But highlighted where light and shadow met, were a varying rainbow of colors. Like water paint, it washed and changed, as each blue, indigo, pink, and teal covered waves, rose to crash against it. Well hell, he up and knew this place. This was the painting he had made for Karkat, the modified version with more color. His suspicions were confirmed as he looked up, spotting on the highest cliff, his brother's scythe with that long scarf like red cloth trailing away from the land and towards the Ocean. A smile touched Gamzee's lips as he sat down cross-legged on the beach, prepared to close his eyes and stare out over the colorful water.

Before something brushed against his cheek. The Capricorn glanced to the side, to find that the churning red cloth that had been pointing out towards the horizon, was now flickering at himself, going against the wind and what direction it had been meant to go. Gamzee hesitated, staring at the cloth, before with a cautious hand, he reached up to grasp it. As soon as his fingers curled around it, the red cloth slithered around his arm like that of a serpent, pressing so tight that it almost appeared to mold with his skin. Over it's shoulder it wrapped, until it reached his neck, curling around there, and melding together without the use of a tie or knot. All Gamzee could do, was simply stare, at the brilliant red trail that ran from his neck, around his arm, and up to the top of the cliff where the scythe still stayed lodged.

And for some reason that escaped him, he was content.

In the waking world, the only sign of Gamzee's dream, was one hand rising up to rest against his own neck. A sigh, before he pressed unknowingly a little further into Karkat's lap, into that warmth.

Karkat's face went even more red when he felt Gamzee move a bit in his lap, and then directed his gaze towards the window in an almost defiant manner, refusing to pay attention to it, for the entire car ride.


	64. Sweet Dreams

One would expect that with someone like Gamzee, it would take an avalanche to wake the male up. But the truth of the matter was, the Capricorn was actually a light sleeper for the most part. Any noise or movement that felt out of place in the Indigo blood's world, could stir him from Z land. It was just to what level he woke up. In this instance, the small jerk indicating that the vehicle had stopped, and the click of the stick being put into park, was enough to begin the awakening process. What really brought Gamzee to the world of reality were two distinct things. An unfamiliar feel of warmth and cloth against his cheek... and a hand with fingers snaking through and resting in his hair.

A combination of the two foreign things, caused indigo eyes to slip open, blinking through the haze of the strange dream, and finding himself staring at the back of a certain she-trolls car set. Then he became aware that he was lying down, and it only took a fraction of a second for multiple things to click in place. The first being that this was Karkat's lap, a knowledge he was aware of because the clothes he wore still somewhat smelled like the store, and the Cancer had been the one in the backseat with him on the car ride back. The second, that was Karkat's hand in his hair. Okay, this was completely not helping the thought process the male had been avoiding since his conversation with Kanaya. This felt more comfortable than it should, more peaceful, and he was tempted to just go back to sleep.

Confusion filtered through Gamzee then, as his mind began to catch up with his waking body. Why was Karkat not flipping out? The Capricorn gave a careful shuffle, rolling slightly until his hands were under him, and pushing himself up, turning his head as he did so. A small smile touched his lips, at what appeared to be a sleeping Karkat resting his head against the window. Shit, looks like they both captured sweet naps during the drive. Not wanting to send his bro in a embarrassed rage when he woke, Gamzee reached up to lightly take Karkat's hand and carefully lift it from his hair, setting it in the male's lap where his head had previously lay. He could see the appeal... Woah! Stop, rewind, delete. Gamzee gave his head a slight shake, okay strange little motherfucking dream thoughts, time to go back and sleep in Z land.

With a quick glance to Kanaya, who seemed to be preoccupied with her phone for the moment, Gamzee turned his attention back to Karkat, and after a few more heart beats of studying the relaxed features of the previously stressed Cancer, he reached up to place one hand on the male's shoulder, giving a light shake, "Hey... best friend. Up and out of dream land bro, we're back at education land."

Thank god the fucking car ride was over. Karkat was about to open his eyes and shove Gamzee off him when he felt the male stir, and stayed still, working as hard as he could to not let his cheeks turn red. So he just kept his eyes closed, as if he were asleep, refusing to let the normal lines and folds of irritation appear. Besides, it was less awkward this way, no need to answer weird questions when Gamzee assumed he was asleep, removing himself from Karkat's lap and placing his hand into his own lap, and then lightly shook his shoulder to 'wake' him up. Oh hell, might as well keep up the charade.

Okay, so what, he willingly put his hand in Gamzee's hair. He only did it because otherwise the idiot's head would have been rolling around in his fucking lap and that would have been damn uncomfortable. It totally hadn't been because he had been wondering what it'd be like to run his fingers through it, not at fucking all.

He immediately moved to stretch out, feeling his joints pop and crack from being kept in place so long, and then opened his eyes, blinking at the sudden change in light, before pretending to notice that he just now realized they were stopped.

Kanaya chose now to stop pretending that she wasn't paying attention to the two, and turned around once they were both awake, smiling. "you two need help putting everything inside? Or do you think you're good?" She asked.

Gamzee gave a glance back at the bags upon bags of clothing. Indigo eyes seemed to assess each one rapidly, before looking back to Kanaya, "Nah sis, I think we can up and get it. Thanks for agreeing to lend your assistance, you've been all kinds of motherfucking helpful, and I seriously owe you like... a bag full of stardust favors. " The Capricorn grinned, giving a nod.

Kanaya just laughed a little, shaking her head. "It's not necessary, to be honest, after all this time apart just seeing you two again was worth it" She answered simply, and then unlocked the side doors for the two, and popped the trunk.

She did end up helping them get some of the stuff out of the van, not carrying it inside, mind you, but handing it to them so they didn't have to reach in for it. And once she was done with that, she said her goodbyes, said she hoped that she'd be able to spend time with either of them again in the future, and knowing her human matesprit was at home waiting anxiously for her return she turned back to her van, waving to the two as she drove off.

The Capricorn waved back at Kanaya, before gathering up as many bags as was possible for a troll of his size and capability, glancing at Karkat with a grin, and navigating towards the dorm. "I'm in the know that this wasn't your motherfucking choice bro, but thanks for up and cooperating once we got there. Even if staring at cloth clings got kind of... trance like after so long a ticking time," still, it had been kind of fun. Except for the whole, miniature psychological drilling session by a certain Virgo. That, Gamzee could have done without. Outside, the sun was beginning it's slow decent across the autumn sky, lighting up the air with vibrant oranges and golds. Almost as if the world was setting a fire.

Karkat grabbed as many bags as his own arms would permit (ironically enough all of what was left), somewhat awkwardly balanced as he headed inside, not answering until they reached his dorm where he simply kicked his broken door in and set the bags in the side of the room for later sorting into drawers, he was a little too tired to stay up for the next hour or so and sort this shit out. "Yeah, whatever" He responded simply, a frown pulling at the edges of his lips.

Gamzee gave a chuckle as he set his own arm full of bags, down beside where Karkat had dropped his load. It was kind of nice being back at the University... but kind of uncomfortable to. Not because he was with Karkat, shit made him the opposite of uneasy, except when those new thoughts came up, but those were more awkward rather than classifying as an actually negative emotion. No, the return of the slight tensity to his shoulders, was due to being back in the reality that there was a certain individual still out there. An individual responsible for Karkat's memory loss, and the mental scars he had witness on and off from the male. A sudden, burning throb of emotion swept underneath Gamzee's flesh and he gave a visible flinch, before laughing it off with a light smile.

"Shit, I better up and renew some frosty brew, and wicked green pie," with a relaxed yawn, and hand rising to idly scratch at the back of his neck, Gamzee navigated into his nutrition block with a pleasant hum.

Karkat watched as Gamzee left, and then stretched out, feeling a few more of his joints crack and snap into place with that rather unpleasant cricking noise. And then with that, he moved towards the door, gently shutting it so that it would stay shut, and noticing something pinned to the back of it that he missed before.

It was a note, and when he opened it, the writing alone told him it was from Sollux.

_"to KK_

_Need y0u t0 c0me t0 my r00m as s00n as y0u get h0me  
>have s0mething very imp0rtant t0 sh0w y0u<br>I'm afraid it may set 0ff Gamzee so d0n't bring him with._

_-S0llux"_

He frowned a little, but Sollux was his friend, if he thought it may set Gamzee off, the most Karkat could do was wait until Gamzee was asleep and then head off to Sollux's, and leave a note, of course, just in case it ended up taking a while.

So, to pass the time, he figured he might as well skip sleep and start unpacking the clothes, waiting for the noise of Gamzee settling in his recuperacoon to reach him through the hole in the wall.

Before the Capricorn settled down into his coon, he got on his husktop to chat up Tavros like he promised he would. They talked, exchanged raps and a few stories. The Taurus told him about some of the happenings at the club, typical shenanigans by drunk individuals, while the Capricorn commented and simply enjoyed his bro's digital company. When the sun completely set, Gamzee came to a stand, rolling his shoulders as he stripped himself of his shirt. Leaving his pants on and such. Yeah, he was all for sleep times now.

As he walked towards his coon though, he noticed a distinctly vacant couch. With a curious head tilt, he poked his head through the hole in the wall, and listened. He could hear Karkat moving around, so he wasn't sleeping, "Don't all up and keep with the waking world all night. Don't wanna get more dream walk wanderings" he gave a shout, checking on the Cancer before he headed off into his own troll bed.

"Yeah, I'm just putting these clothes away for now" Karkat called back, finishing up putting away the last of the clothes, but he kept moving around, keeping himself awake and making it seem as though he were still busy, deciding to wait a few minutes to make sure Gamzee was asleep.

"Alright brother, wicked snoozings then," with a yawn, Gamzee pulled his phone from his pocket, attached it to the charger on the side table by his sleeping apparatus, and slipped in through the tricky hole in the side of his recuperacoon. He adjust until he was comfortable, allowing the sopor to sink in and fill any gaps his entrance had left behind, before he allowed his knees's to buckle so he was suspended in the slime. The warm sludge soaked into his skin, easing what little tensity was in the male's muscles, and after only a few heart beats, he was set in a comfortable sleep.

Ten minutes later, and Karkat managed to fish out a pen and pencil, writing down a quick message, and posting it on Gamzee's side of the wall, just above the hole, as quietly as he could.

_'SOLLUX WANTED ME TO GO LOOK AT SOMETHING WITH HIM SO IF YOU NEED ME JUST CALL MY CELL PHONE'_

He figured it'd be easy enough to tell who it was from so he didn't bother signing it, and merely headed out the room, throwing the message from Sollux into the garbage, and shutting the door gently behind him, making sure to not wake up his neighbor, and with that, headed out the building.

The streets were dark by now, between the time when it was dark enough to light the street lamps and light enough to still see easily, but it wasn't too hard to cross the street, and reach Sollux's dorm building, it was not even a block away, afterall. He remembered it was up on the third floor, and he raced up the stairs quickly, going down the left hallway, and reaching room thirty eight.

He knocked, a frown on his face, sharp teeth poking out his lips, waiting nearly two minutes. Before he knocked again, a little bit aggitated now.

"Jegus fuck Sollux you're the one who fucking told me to come over to your festering wire-fuck hole of a room you could at least answer the FUCKING DOOR!" He roared, punching the wooden barrier, only to find it slide open at his touch, the light from the hallway stretching into the dark room, the only sliver of light in that room. His frown became more pronoucned, as he stepped inside, for the first time, an uneasy writhing, twisting in his gut. "Sollux?" he called into the empty room, taking a few steps into the room.

The door slammed shut behind him, and something pushed him forward from behind. He flailed, arms going outward to catch himself, but hitting soft flesh instead. He stumbled, landing on something that felt too squishy to be anything other than a body. The carpet was wet under his fingers, wet and warm with something sticky. His eyes went wide. "oh fuck! Sollux?" He cried out, his voice cracking as he reached to the body, hands moving along the male's chest, to his neck, and then his face, feeling those familiar goggles there in the darkness. "Oh shit! Sollux!"

And then, a blinding pain struck the back of his head, and just as the world went dark, he heard one last thing.

"Hee hee hee! Night night Karkat!"


	65. The Culling Ceremony

Those of you who dislike gore may want to skip this chapter entirely

_-Eren S._

* * *

><p>Cee hummed to herself, flicking the lights back on as she dropped the keyboard she had used to knock the red blood unconscious, pulling him off the filthy piss blood he had landed on. Some of the mustard colored blood staining his brand new shirt, by the look of it. She just smiled, grabbing some of the wire and ripping it from the terminals. She grabbed his hands, pulling them behind his back, and tying them together tightly, almost tight enough to cut off the blood flow, and then she went to his legs, tying them at the knees and ankles.<p>

And with that, she hauled him up over her shoulder, walked to the open window, ignoring Sollux's unconscious, maybe even dead, body. That sure was an awful lot of blood that was pooled around him. If he wasn't dead yet, it was only a matter of time! Still, she wished she had been able to play with him a bit more, but her powers did not work on someone like him. So she could only go so far. She threw Karkat out the three story window, still smiling like an innocent child as she jumped out right after him.

But instead of falling down to the ground, She landed on some kind of scaled creature. She smiled gently now, leaning down to hug her lusus around it's massive, deformed head.

It had a long, snake like body, with various unnatural looking legs and appendages sprouting out at odd angles from it's body. But that wasn't the strangest part of it's body. No, it was the faces of numerous trolls, hundreds of them, sewn into the side of her lusus.

The faces of those who had fallen under her wrath, the faces of those she killed. And she planned to add these two to the mix.

Though the Piss-blood could wait for later, she had a delivery to make first~! She smiled to herself, patting her lusus' head, and clicking her tongue, it moved, clenching it's long, slender fingers around Karkat's waist where it had caught him, keeping a tight hold on the troll, and then it moved, it's muscles writhing beneath those thick scales as it traveled behind the line of the dorms, silently moving along before it reached another dorm building a few blocks away, and it rose up, hoisting her to a two story window, which she then knocked on, smiling vibrantly.

From the room, there came movement, a shift in the lights, and a click. Before curtains pulled back to reveal two light violet eyes peering out from the well lit dorm room. There was surprised blink, before a brilliant smile pulled at painted lips, and the window was slid up and open. "Well good evening Miss Loooovely!" purred the she-troll with a light laugh, propping her hands on the window sill. Even with her hair down, the long strands brushing against her heels, and only one dress on her form instead of layers of clothing, there was no mistaking that tone of voice.

Tansis gave her head a curious tilt as she leaned forward, "What brings you h-Oh my! Is that your Lusus? He's soooo pretty!"

Cee giggled, "Isn't he? Snakedad just has the prettiest scales ever! Not to mention allll his pretty eyes~. But that's not why we popped by, we have a present for you!" She stated in an excited tone, and again clicked her tongue and whistled, the snake beneath her shuddering and moving to obey her commands. One of of it's deformed arms moved up, holding the Cancer within good view of the window. "Ta da~!"

A gasp came from Tansis, both of her hands coming up to cover her mouth and her eyes going wide. Before she started to hop up and down on the balls of her feet, and a delighted giggle escaped. Then she was clapping, and the giggles bubbled freely from her lips like that of a song bird. "Oh! Cee! This has got to be the best present I've ever seen!" She jumped back over to her window sill, leaning out of it now on her abdomen all smiles, her expression practically glowing in it's excitement, "How did you get him away from Mr. Growly Clown Face? And wrapped up all nice and pretty. Awwww," she then cooed upon seeing the wires keeping the male all tied and secured.

"It was easy! I just made a note and put it in his room, and made it look like it was from a friend! And since Mr. Grape Jelly Blood was asleep, I can just use the lowblood's phone to make it seem like he's okay for as long as you need~!" Cee responded simply, her smile growing wider. "Want me to just throw him in your dorm, or do you have somewhere else better?" She asked, tapping Snakedad's head to bring Karkat a little bit closer, digging into the pocket of his jeans to pull out his cellphone, feeling him move a little bit, getting close to waking up. She then drew back, his cellphone in her hand, a crooked smile on her face.

"Oh yes please! Just toss him right in! I'll make sure he gets nice and comfortable!" Tansis all but purred as she twirled away from her window to give Cee and her Snakedad, plenty of room to deposit the little mutant blood all nice and proper. Before she gave a skip to her phone, sending out a short text to a couple of friends. She didn't think Karkat would be a problem all tied up, but why risk it? Plus, Tansis oh so did enjoy an audience. "You're seriously the best Cee!" called out the dancer troll as she gave another excited twirl.

Cee just laughed, whistling to her lusus once more, and he again moved to her commands. The thing reached it's hand into the window, dropping Karkat not so carefully onto the floor of the room. She heard the little low blood groan, he seemed even closer to waking up now. She smiled. "I honestly do wish I could stay and play with you, but I'm gonna go tease his little piss blooded friend, that one I have something personal against~!" She answered, and then tapped her lusus' head three times exactly, waving goodbye to Tansis as her lusus backed up from the window, soon vanishing with her into the darkness of the night, nothing but the white of her eyes glowing, before they too vanished.

Tansis trilled a good bye, waving after Cee's vanishing form, before with a suddenly sharp spin she turned back around to face the crumpled form of the little mutant blood. Another giggle, the tone to this one all but dripping with a new, black tone, came from the female. As her hands reached behind herself to both close the window, and draw the curtains shut. "Oh, poor, sweet little Karkat. Let's get you nice and comfortable."

It only took several minutes, for the dancer troll to a clear a nice open space on her floor. Her couch was pushed back, tables, nick knacks, all against the wall. The female's room was doused in colors raging from purple to blue, with drapes cascading down her walls instead of pictures. She pulled out one of her kitchen chairs, a human made, wooden bit of a 'masterpiece' with clawed feet and a carved frame. With a light little coo, she placed said furniture in the center of the floor, and then twirled in excitement, to go and answer the door. Five trolls stood there, with three specific creatures at the head. One a male magenta blooded sea-dweller, followed close behind by a male and female blue-blood.

"Hello dear friends, please come in. Oh, you dear," Tansis spoke, hooking an arm around one of the blue bloods, "Please come help me move our special guest into his place of honor." Said troll gave a fanged smile as he allowed Tansis to lead him in, giving an amused growl at the tied up red-blood that she led him towards. With brief instruction, he fisted his fingers in the male's shirt, and hoisted up, dropping him unceremoniously in the chair, while Tansis accepted a metal chord one of the other highbloods brought, and to tie it around Karkat's waist and secure him to the back of his special seat.

"Okay everyone! Gather in, and... Oh, Postra dear, close the door why don't you. Alright," Tansis gave a delighted giggle at the eyes that looked curiously from herself, to the male in the chair, "I know you're all very curious why I've called you here. Allow me to show you." She spun around then, taking a few steps, before leaning down so that she was eye-level with the slowly awakening Cancer. One hand rose up, to lightly pat the side of his face, "Ooooh Karkat, why don't you wake up for me. Pretty please?"

The last thing he remembered was Sollux beneath him, unmoving, covered in what he was pretty sure was blood. He muttered his friend's name, trying to act. Oh fuck, what if he was dead? Please don't be fucking dead Sollux, oh god please don't be dead. Please please please please. He tried to move his hands, feeling his eyes burn even though they were closed and his head hurt, but they wouldn't respond. He tried again, but something was holding them in place.

He opened his eyes, which were blank, unseeing, the red vibrant even though all he saw was blackness. He blinked a few times, his vision slowly coming into focus, revealing a well lit, clean room before him, no mustard blooded troll or his blood to be seen. His mind still groggy, he glanced around, not even seeming to notice Tansis there, still pulling at his arms even though the bindings were tight. "Sollux...?"

A tsking noise came in front of him, before Tansis took Karkat's face between both of her hands, and gave it a shake from side to side, "No, no, no, Karkat, no Sollux here. Don't worry, I think sweet little Cee is taking extra super good care of him." the she-troll purred, hardly caring if the male was conscious just yet, as she skipped behind him with a twirl. Before her arms wrapped around the male's neck and she leaned down, setting her on top of the Cancer's head, and holding it still so all those in the room could get a good view. "Ladies and gentle-trolls, our entertainment for this evening. Mr. Kaaaarkat Vantas. Isn't he just adorable!" Chuckles and growls came from the audience, until they got a view of his eyes. Surprised whispers came then, and the present sea-dweller narrowed his eyes with a low rumble coming from his chest.

"What's with that look Doseinn, I know his blood is pretty and all."

"You never did keep well with the teachings of old Tansis. His blood is that of a mutant, yes. But there is only one blood line that produces that color." the sea dweller spoke, eyes narrowing, as the dancer troll gave a tilt of her head. "Signless."

Immediately, a chorus of snarls ripped through the crowd, while both of Tansis brows rose. Well, that certainly explained why when she had told Valus of Karkat's blood color, she had reacted in that way. There was a brief silence, before that grin on Tansis lips grew to reveal all of his fangs, a dark look over-coming her eyes, "Well, I guess that makes our entertainment extra special then! Ooooh Karkat, are you awake yet?" She purred, pulling away from the male, letting her hand trail silently across his shoulder, before standing in front of him once more.

It was funny, he was in a room surrounded by a bunch of highbloods who looked like they were gonna have a lot of fun killing him, and all he was panicking about was Sollux. He heard what Tansis said, about him being with Cee, and he began to struggle a little harder against his bindings, fuck, no! He wasn't going to let them touch him if he could do something about it.

Tansis trailed her arm over his shoulder, and he snarled, jerking his head to the side just as her hand started to draw away, digging those sharp fangs of his into the flesh of her wrist and not letting go.

An ear shattering shriek came from Tansis, when she felt those needle sharp troll teeth, dig into the flesh of her wrist. A feral look, primal and dangerous, came across the female's face as she twisted to face him, the yellow sclera of her eyes turned a vivid red. All that pleasantness, all that fake cheer, slaughtered by the snarl that tore across her lips. She gave a round pull of her wrist, but Karkat didn't release. The nerve of the rebellious little scrap of waist! Tansis held up one hand, rotated in a singular circle, before slamming those claws into Karkat's gut, curving her fingers upward so that what little penetrated the flesh through the male's shirt, hooked into his flesh.

Karkat opened his mouth, letting go of Tansis' hand as air whoosed out of him, and he coughed, doubling over as much as he could tied up in the chair, several sharp, stabbing pains hitting his abdomen and running up and down his stomach. He felt the sour taste of purple blood in his mouth, mixing with the saliva, and looked up, rage in his own eyes as he took a breath, and spat the mixture of blood and spit at the female highblood.

"Fuck you!"

Tansis snatched both hands back, rolling her shoulders as she produced a a dark little growl. "Such a fowl little mouth. Come now spawn of the Sufferer, can't you get just a teensy bit more creative than that," she stepped around the male, not bother to wipe up the blood and spit that pattered against her otherwise spotless dress. Each movement she made was like a dance, as she stepped around the male in a slow circle, seeming to be sizing him up with a thoughtful glare.

"You know what. I think you're just a weeee bit tense. Luxia!" the male blue blood that had entered beside the sea-dweller flickered his gaze to the significantly smaller female with a raised brow. "Think you could tenderize our guest a little bit.?"

"Tenderize?"

A giggle came from Tansis as she twisted her bloodied claws in the front of the male's shirt, pulling him forward as she stepped back with a purring growl. The much burlier male followed without resistance brow raised the entire time, and when they were just in front of Karkat, she stepped close to him, reaching up one clawed finger and lightly poking the tip of his nose, "Yes Luxia, tenderize, like a human piece of raw steak." and then she twirled away, leaving the muscular blue blood with a gnarled grin.

Knuckles cracked together, fists slamming into each palm, as neck and shoulders rolled. Then he took a single stride forward and without further warning, slammed his fist into Karkat's chest, following the action quickly by the second pair of tightened knuckles. Each punch fell like a lead weight, the entire length of the male's arm pulled back, before springing forward with momentum to back up the sinews that pulsated thick around his limbs. When his amusement dimmed, and the flesh on the lowblood's chest gave more leeway, he turned to land an upper cut along Karkat's jaw with all his weight thrown into the action. Before turning and doing the same again to his chest, pulling back only after the first resounding crack, before a loud clapping caused him to stop.

Tansis stepped forward then, parted her lips to speak, before pausing and shutting them tight again. A long silence before, "On second though, go ahead and do it a couple more times." A small laugh filtered among the group, before Luxia complied, balling up his firsts for three more strikes, before there was that clapping again. "Mmm... one more." Luxia laughed, rose up one boot, and slammed it against the Cancer's chest with enough force that the chair creaked and tilted dangerously backwards, before falling back down with a clattering thud.

"That's good, softened him very nice. thank you soooo much Luxia," the male gave an appreciative growl, back up to rejoin the group of highbloods. Tansis stepped forward again, toe to heel, still bleeding wrist, and the drying red on one, gripped behind her back, before she gave a small skip to stand in front of him. "I may not have Cee's powers, but I have so many lovely resources. Dear, sweet, filthy little Karkat. I wonder how it feels," she purred, taking a slow step forward, "To know that your friends will die. I wonder how it feels to know that Gamzee Makara, you're beloved pretend moirail, will more than likely be the cause of their deaths."

She held out her hand, and another of the group stepped forward, place a curved knife, made out of what appeared to be, bone in her hand. Finely arched fingers wrapped around the blade's handle, before rising to slip the tip under Karkat's collar, pulling downwards and not bother to be careful, as she sliced the bit of clothing open to reveal a swelling chest and abdomen. "Can you just picture it? The Grand Highblood standing on a hill of flesh and blood, his throne rebuilt with the bones and cloth of those who have suffered and died by his hands. His laughter filling the halls of the imperial court, while the culled are hung up against the Imperial Flogging Jut." a delighted purr escaped Tansis throat. "While one by one, those that you two have called your friends, are summoned for judgment. Of course, you won't be there, can't complete our little dream with you in the way. Karkat Vantas," she growled his name, as she ran the tip of the blade along the side of his neck with a glare.

Karkat glared back up at Tansis, one eye squeezed shut against the pain of his chest and jaw. Fuck, he was sure that punch would have broken it, that must be what it felt like getting punched by Equius or something, like having a brick wall shot out of a cannon at you.

But he didn't answer, merely glared, eyes going hazy as rage began to climb up into them. And then he moved, jerking his head up painfully, and spitting a mouthful of red blood into Tansis' face, snarling.

"I think it's really fucking sad you had to go and have someone else fetch me for you, fucking cunt-sucker" He seethed, hissing the words out painfully. "W...what's wrong, too afraid of Gamzee to... to do it yourself?"

A pause came from Tansis, the spat red blood dripped down her cheeks and brow, as that glare hardened. A small giggle issued forth, as she lifted the back of her unoccupied hand, to wipe away some of the combination of red blood and saliva. Before that same hand lashed forward, claws curling around Karkat's neck as she snarled, jamming the tip of the curved blade into the Cancer's shoulder and jerked downwards. "Oh no you petty little excuse for a troll, I'm not afraid of him. But I do, oh-so enjoy living, and there was no way I could lure you're revolting carcass away from him on my own." She then tore the blade out of this shoulder, jerking downwards to leave a small crevice for the vivid red blood to flow. "It'll be soooo much easier when your gone. Everything can go back to existing as it was meant to be. But not, of course, until we've had our fun."

She straightened up then, releasing her hold on the male's neck as she stepped back, brushing a few long strands of hair that had drifted over her shoulder, back into place. Tansis then gave the bone blade a test twirl, "You know, two things about this don't feel right," she chirped thoughtfully, placing her unoccupied hand on her hip while staring down the male. It was from there, that Doseinn, the sea-dweller, spoke up. "It is a shame we don't have any Irons."

Tansis glanced over her shoulder, giving a few blinks, before a brilliant smile came over her. "You know my ocean brethren, you are right. But that doesn't mean we can't make this official," so with a another spin of the blade, she slammed the knifes tip into Karkat's chest until it touched bone, smiled widening at the neon red blood that swelled and flowed over the bruising flesh. Keeping the blade in deep, she jerked it sideways, making sure she could feel the device scraping against the bone through the ripe and swollen skin. Making first a side-ways six, then another going the opposite direction. Making Karkat's symbol, the shape of the Irons on the Imperial Flogging Jut, blood flowing freely down the male's abdomen.

With a mad giggle, she turned, holding the bone blade high above her head, "We're almost official!" She gave a light skip around the arch of highbloods as she continued speaking, "However, to make this experience truly worth while, we must pull out all of the stops! Postra, untie him from the chair. We're going to need that rope for something muuuuch more productive."

"What's going through your mind Tansis?" spoke a highblood from the crowd.

The violet-eyed female glanced over with a pleasant grin, "Why, this is a culling ceremony after all. So we have to string up the accused like a freshly slaughtered meat beast of course."


	66. The Hunt Begins

Trolls were capable of taking a lot of punishment to their bodies. But in this instance, Karkat wasn't sure how that was at all a good thing.

It must have been hours, and fuck he was in so much pain that it all seemed to blend together. But he never screamed, he bit down on his tongue so hard he cut through it several times to keep himself quiet. He was not being thoughtful of the neighbors, he just wasn't going to give these fucking highbloods the satisfaction of hearing him scream. But jesus it hurt so much, like his whole body was on fire, only made worse by the noise of his blood dripping off his body and hitting the ground below. A steady drip... drip... drip...

But it didn't reach his mind, didn't reach deep enough anyway. His consciousness and complete awareness of the situation had drained away by now, keeping his sanity together by keeping part of him separate from the situation. But it was fraying, each time he was cut, or stabbed, or fuck whatever else they were doing to him because he wasn't opening his eyes anymore, just a whimper every now and then the only sign that he was alive at all.

Outside, the sun had begun to rise, the highblood's having taken turns with carving, cutting, and slicing throughout the night. They had to improvise, since Tansis room lacked any rafters to string the Cancer up from. So they had pulled out the lighting fixture on her ceiling, ever so slightly to give enough room to tie one end of rope around. The other, got knotted around the wires keeping Karkat's ankles together, and he had been strung up, as promised, all nice and proper for the little culling party. The puddle of red in Tansis carpet, was splattered and pooled to such an extent, that there was no option that it could ever be washed. There were even splatters of red on the walls, on her furniture, that one would need to use their imagination, to figure out how it splattered there.

The blood soaked bone knife was passed off for an unaccounted time, back into the original owner's hands. Tansis gave a charming giggle, "Awwww, he's starting to go unconscious. Gotta do ooooone more thing before we take a break," she purred, wiping the dripping red curved knife on the front of her stained white dress. With a humming giggle, she brought the still sharp blade, up to the scratched and carved skin on Karkat's arm. She pressed the pointed edge side-ways against the skin there, and at an angle, before sawing the knife back and forth, cutting in only a few inches, before moving to another section close to the first deep wound, and creating a similar slice. Again and again, she repeated the action down the Cancer's upper arm, smile growing at the whimpers, before she reached his fore arm.

_Stay awake Stay awake Stay awake_

"Chop chop!" she giggled, then scraped the blade just under the Cancer's skin from elbow to wrist, three consecutive times, the thin gray flesh falling with sickening plops against the ground, before Tansis did a twirl and hop backwards with an insane clap of her hands. "Okay everyone! Let's take a break, I know you have classes and such. Soooo we'll finish up after lunch. I'll stay and make sure Mr. Karkat stays nice and comfortable. Then we'll come back for the grand finale!" The highbloods gave a cheer, Tansis giving small bows, hugging some of her friends as they left. The Sea Dweller, Doseinn, was the only one without any red blood on him. During the fun, he had simply said, "I'm content with just watching. I'd rather not get any land dweller filth on me. No offense my dear."

_have to stay awake..._

When they had all gone, Tansis let out a dreamy sigh, turning around to survey their handy work. Oh, they had been careful not to go too far, didn't want Karkat to die prematurely, and it wasn't as if any of them had healing powers of any sort. Hm... Tansis decided she could use some breakfast. With a light whistling, she skipped into her nutrition block. She didn't realize how incredibly hungry she was.

_Stay... awa...awake... _

Karkat felt his body just sort of fade from feeling, the feeling of the knife on his arm becoming numb and still, as if it had been removed, or maybe even never there in a first place. he let out a long sigh, hearing something that sounded like a door shutting, and then he passed out to the noise of his own blood drip... drip...dripping onto the ground.

* * *

><p>Gamzee stared at the note that dangled from the top of the hole in the wall, the familiar writing all but laughing back at him. Half-lowered eyes were unblinking, lips placed in a tight frown, off-setting the artificial smile painted on the Capricorn's face.<p>

_'SOLLUX WANTED ME TO GO LOOK AT SOMETHING WITH HIM SO IF YOU NEED ME JUST CALL MY CELL PHONE'_

The fingers around his phone tightened a fraction more, the device creaking slightly with the threat of cracking. He had tried to call, but there had been no answer. Had done the same with Sollux's phone... still nothing. There was this uncomfortable tug in his gut, a sort of instinct pulsing in the heat of his veins, whispering in a hundred screaming voices that something was wrong. A small flinch came from Gamzee, as his phone rang, signaling an incoming text message.

TR: HeY G-zeE,, WoulD YoU MinD MeetinG ME IN ThE GyM?  
>TR: I NeeD A SparrinG PartneR TO TrY OuT A NeW MovE I''vE BeeN WorkinG ON..<p>

Gamzee stared at his phone for all of a minute, blinking, before realization came across his gaze. Shit, why hadn't he tried texting Karkat? If he and Sollux were in the middle of doing their odd computer thing, then his phone could be on silent or something... right? Hell, it was worth a shot.

He tried texting Karkat first.

TC: HeY BrO, EvErYtHiNg uP AnD OkAy?

Then Jarren.

TC: SuRe mOtHeRfUcKeR I'lL Be rIgHt oN OvEr. gOnNa gEt mYsElF AlL Up aNd fAmIlIaR WiTh a pIe fIrSt.

The Capricorn gave a small yawn. Fuck, he was probably just being all paranoid, which was odd because shit never made him really paranoid. But if Karkat was with Sollux, everything should be all wicked fine. The Cancer was a pretty bad ass fighter, and Sollux had his wicked psionic lights that could really slam someone into an ill state. Gamzee rose one hand up to scratch at the back of his neck. He'll just eat up some sopor, get a nice and soothing wave of haze going, and go play warrior with Jarren while waiting for a response for Karkat. Shouldn't up and take too long, he thought, as his hands pulled open the Cancer's refrigeration device to pull out a pie. Pausing as he set it on the counter, when his phone binged again with a new message.

CG: EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE

Yeah, okay... that was... an odd response. Sure it was typed in his bro's word manner, but the verbal choices used didn't really click well in Gamzee's brain. But hell, maybe his bro was just real tired? With a small hum, brows still furrowed, he dipped one hand towards the sopor... and then stopped. The Capricorn swallowed, glancing from the slime pie, to the phone in his hand, then back. Hell, it wouldn't be that big of an issue right? Nothing had really up and happened lately to put him in a rage. Actually, things had been really motherfucking docile. The biggest event being Karkat only answering him by a text message. After another few heart beats. Gamzee picked up the pie, and placed it back in the fridge.

Before with a hum, he slipped back into his side of the room, pulling on his half-black half-indigo hoody, and lifting up the hood, slipping his horns into the cut out slits, before buttoning it closed to keep the bit of cloth from falling back. Then with a roll of the shoulders, he walked towards the door to his room, cell phone in hand as he flicked off the lights, and shut his own door. He didn't bother with locking it (not that he ever really did so to begin with), but the reasoning being that this time, Karkat's door didn't lock, so if someone would go through his bro's room, they'd have access to his own via the big ass hole in the wall. So really, locking his own door had not point. Man, they should probably up and fix that. As Gamzee walked down the hall, his fingers ghosted over the keypad of his cellular device again, sending another message to Karkat.

TC: We gOiNg tO Up aNd mEeT FoR LuNcH ThIs dAy?  
>CG: EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE<p>

Gamzee stared, his foot steps slowing, though not quite stopping. Yeah, okay, that response wasn't at all about what he had up and asked about. That feeling in his gut tightened as he continued to walk, step after careful step.

TC: UhHhHhHhHhHh, oKaY. YoU SuRe yOu'Re aLl fUcKiNg rIgHt bRo?  
>CG: EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE<br>TC: I'm kInDa sTaRtInG To gEt vAsCuLaR DoUbTs aBoUt tHaT.

The Capricorn was at the door to the dorms now, moving to one side to let a few other University students through, before walking through it one his own.

CG: EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE

Gamzee furrowed his brows as he walked down the front steps to their dorms, not bothering to look up as feet found their way to the side walk. He didn't have to look up to dodge the others, simply doing it on instinct while concentrating on the phone.

TC: KaRkAt, wHaT's mOtHeRfUcKiNg wRoNg bRo?

He didn't notice the small groups of people all heading towards the same direction as he walked. As the Capricorn moved closer and closer to the end of his dorm building.

CG: EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE

Gamzee stepped around the corner, with every intention of heading in a straight line. But a flash of something out of the corner of his eyes made him stop. Red and blue light, even in the morning sun, reflected and brushed against the ground, and surrounding buildings.

CG: EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE

Indigo eyes flickered up, staring past the crowd of people gathered around one of the other dorm buildings, spotting an ambulance with it's beautiful flashing lights. Then, he saw paramedics rushing out of the dorm's entrance, a flash of a head with a familiar set of four pointed horns, and mustard colored blood staining the entire length of his body.

'_SOLLUX WANTED ME TO GO LOOK AT SOMETHING WITH HIM'_

Sollux.

CG: Jnst like I said Mr. Grape Jelly Troll  
>CG: Everythiug is jnst fiue = : )<p>

The world crumbled around Gamzee, as he stared at those lines. The bark on leafless tree's began to peel, leaving a starch white, bone like substance underneath. Their branches curling and twisting like so many skeletal fingers. Cracks began to form along the surface of each building, hundreds of thousands of eyes peering out from the black crevices, their irises tinted a full spectrum of vivid colors against contracted pupils. While above it all, the sky began to shrivel and peel, falling like ash to the ground. And he was frozen. Could no longer feel his heart beating. Could no longer feel anything but cold. A sharp frost coating his lungs and chilling his arteries, he was frozen. Breathless.

Then, a violent red began to creep around the yellow of his eyes, heat so scorching that it hurt, exploded from his chest and set fire to his veins. The ash that fell from the sky, turned to that of a heavy black liquid, falling to the ground with a sickening splat, and slithering out a spider web of patterns as if it held a life of it's own. On every bone tree, scars and scratches began to appear, mauling and tearing the once pure things into tattered bits. And from those cracks in the wall, laughter and shrieks of hellish horror.

Slowly, a fanged grin, pulled too wide at Gamzee's lips.

He turned, and with a simple shift of his weight, seemed to all but flash through the deteriorating land scape of his decaying mind, appearing again at the other side of the campus, stalking towards the gym, phone to his ear. Like that of a predator, scorned, and feral.

_"__G-Zee, where t'e hell are ya?"_

"Shut up," he growled into the receiver, "Come out of the gym now. RIGHT MOTHER-FUCKING NOW!"

_"__... uh... kay."_

Gamzee stopped, his presence all but looming in front of the doors to the Strife building. The little insects of the world scurried in a wide birth around him, their whispers reaching deaf ears, and their curious glances shot down with a dark smile. The black ink that fell from the heavens, traced a veiny trail towards him. Encircling his steps, encircling the ground around him. Reflected in it's ebony mass, gnarled and mutilated faces, screaming in an eternity of torture, could be seen reflected. All in his pretty little mind. Carnival music began to play.

Then his subject appeared, dark violet eyes weary as he stepped toward him. Each approach was cautious, eyes locking with that of Gamzee's, as he kept his hands where the Capricorn could see them. Jarren kept his shoulders lowered as he stopped a few feet from the indigo blood, murmuring a mantra through his head, mostly consisting ofDon't-appear-like-a-threat-don't-appear-like-a-threat-Oh-fuck-me-I'm-gonna-die.

The highblood simply laughed, the sound rolling against the air, creating an effect that made it seem as though even the wind itself, avoided coming into his vicinity. "Hey motherfucker, sorry we can't do YOUR MOTHERFUCKING SIDE SHOW!" Another laugh, and Jarren was silent, watching the rather terrifying scene, of Gamzee's face altering from complete calm, to twisted rage in his speech. "Honk HONK, brother. Some serious shit has happened. LIKE A FUCKING LANDSLIDE OF HORNS FROM THE MESSIAHS GATES. The horns aren't messengers brother, NOT FUCKING MESSENGERS. Their warnings." Gamzee's hand's suddenly flew out of his pockets, head snapping backwards as his arms stretched out as if to take in the entire world in his madness, "MOTHER-FUCKING WARNINGS!"

Then Gamzee wasn't moving, staring up at the sky, palms turned upward, watching the black rain fall.

Jarren swallowed, "G-Zee?"

The Capricorn didn't respond at first, just stood. Before he was talking quietly, his voice coming as something barely above a whisper, still staring up at the sky, before his arms dropped loosely to his side. "They have Karkat."

Understanding filtered over the circulatory troll's brain. Valus had told him the situation with this chick by the name of TenaciousObsession, said she wasn't working alone, and if Karkat was missing... OH... oh shit. Gamzee was past flipping his sanity, he was already knee deep in the mind set the Grand fucking Subjuggulating Highblood. Jarren parted his lips to speak, before like a whip, the Capricorn's had snapped back down, eyes locking on his own. Then, claws were digging into the front of his shirt, and although he was only half a foot shorter than Gamzee, he was lifted to be eye level with those maddening indigo eyes.

"Find him... find-MOTHER FUCKING FIND HIM! Summon the other highbloods. AND FIND," he pulled him closer, until he could feel the heat of the Grand Highblood's breath, and see the flash of too sharp fangs, "MY MOTHER FUCKING MOIRAIL." and then he tossed Jarren as if he were nothing but a ragdoll, the male's shoulder slamming none too kindly into the ground several feet away, a grunt and soundless gasp coming from him as the wind was knocked from his lungs.

As soon as he regained his baring, Jarren took off at a run, as is if hell's agents would tear from the ground and pull him under if he wasn't fast enough. He fumbled with his phone, nearly dropping it as he began to call every highblood among his contacts that went to the University. In the mean time, he began his search first at the dorms, looking as he spoke to multiple trolls. Each call, he was more breathless, slightly more frantic, though he said the same thing each time there was an answer, "Gamzee's moirail has been taken, and if we dun find out who and where, we're all gonna die," and then he hung up and called the next number.

Gamzee, in the mean time, stared after Jarren's disappearing form with narrowed, demonic red sclera's, and that broadened smile. "Honk." He laughed, then began to walk, a slow stalking action in a broad circle of the school grounds. Looking from innocent pedestrian, to innocent insect, and if it weren't for the necessity of his current attentions, he would put them in a better place. Taking their pretty little heads and beginning forming a hall of motherfucking trophies. Humans, trolls, hell he wouldn't discriminate. All were welcome, in the Dark Carnival. But not now, no. Now his agents were at work, and mere minutes after Jarren ran off to do his bidding, he received a text from the ElegantInformer, reporting that she would be searching the sciences building. He didn't respond, just walked, just waited, and at his side, a massive black shadow with tall horns and shifting hair, matched his steps. The same entity that Gamzee had seen before, and more recently in a hospital room with a red-blooded troll, not all that long ago.

Jarren's shoulder slammed against the hallway in one of the dorms, his breath shaking as if he were struggling with the concept of inhaling and exhaling. Holy creator of all fucking mother grubs, how many stairs had he climbed and descended, how far had he ran. He coughed, a dry heave coming at the back of his throat, as a sharp pain dug itself into his side. Damn it, he didn't even think troll's could get a fucking stitch! With another sharp inhal of breath, the male shoved himself away from the wall, walking, eyes narrowing with focus. There was on highblood he couldn't get a hole of, simply because he didn't have her number, and this one, he had suspicions about above all other. If anything, for the fucked up ability she had.

He stumbled slightly as he came towards her door, leaning against the frame as he took a moment to catch his breath, and in that moment he heard the she-troll herself.

"How about this one? I love the neon red color on you~!"

The circulatory troll's eyes flew wide, and with no further fanfare than that, his calloused wrapped around the door's knob and shoved it open. He nearly fell forward with the force of the action, face twisted between exhuastion, and what could have been suspicion, but looked more like mild irritation. That stayed, even when his suspicions were crushed, as he all but crumpled against the door.

Cee jumped as Jarren crashed through the door, almost dropping the bottles of nail polish she held in her hands, scrambling to keep them from crashing on the floor, neon red a color among them. Maka sat on a human styled bed not too far away, a book on her lap, with her dressed in nothing but a pair of spandex shorts and what looked like a midriff tang top.

Her rainbow hair was loose, not done up in braids and ponytails like it's usual style, relaxing the sharp features and colors, especially without her makeup on. But her toes were all painted up, done in lime green and other colors, each two a different color. She merely stared at Jarren, raising one eyebrow at his rather odd arrival.

"Yes?" She asked, her voice utterly neutral, unlike Cee, who seemed somewhat flustered.

"Jarren that's so rude to not knock first! Maka's not even fully dressed" She stated, a frown on her face, her own hair done up in a simple ponytail to keep it out of her way so that she could paint Maka's nails, something she loved doing, without it bothering her. Maka didn't seem to care in the least about her state of undress. "But... are you ok? You look flustered, something wrong?"

Jarren merely gasped for air at first, looking between the two of them with contracted pupils, tongue darting out to lick quickly at dry lips, before his knees crumpled, and he let himself fall onto their floor. Then he leaned back against the door, the horns that started at the base of his skull, clacking against the surface as he curled his legs in front of him. Shit, he didn't know if he was disappointed or relieved that Karkat hadn't been in their. A few more breaths, before, "Ahm gonna die," he laughed out without a drop of humor in his tone, "Fuck, we all are at tis point." he swallowed, closing his eyes as he willed his heart rate to slow. "G-Zee's moirail has been taken and he's going all... Fucking Grand Highblood Subjuggulatuh out tere! Shit! Shit, if we can't find t'e annoying little crab, he's gonna start jus... fuckin killin' everyone. Ahm all for him going an fuckin' takin' his place, but ahm pretty fond of tis bulge sucked existence ah call my life."

Maka seemed to understand whatever it was that came out of Jarren's mouth damn near perfectly, merely sighing as she set the book she had open in her lap down, memorizing the page number as she reached over, grabbing a pair of shorts and a shirt, both plain black, and slipped them on. Cee just stared blankly.

"We can help look. What does his moirail look like?" Maka asked in her usual, bland tone as she slipped her shirt on.

The circulatory troll swallowed, as he opened his eyes and glanced over, blinking silently as he seemed to realize for a brief moment that, oh-hey, one of the she-trolls had been half naked. Only the slightest blush came to his cheeks though, they had deeper shit to worry about. "He's short. Like, fuckin' tiny. Nubby horns tat barely pop outta his damn hair, and if has left tose contacts out, tese bright ass red eyes."

"oh~! I've seen someone with red eyes today!" Cee cried out, waving her arms around to grab the attention of the other two trolls. "I visited Tansis earlier today, and she had a a troll with real cute little horns all nubby and stuff and these reaaaaaallly bright red eyes!"

Jarren stared at Cee as if she had just picked up a giant fish and slapped him with it, and then in an instance, he was on his feet, stumbling only for a moment, before he took off down the hall at a dead run. Pulling out his phone, and from the girl's room, they could just hear his voice reaching them, "G-Zee! I KNOW WHERE KARKAT IS!"

Cee kept on her somewhat worried, blank look, until she was positive Jarren was gone, and then smiled wickedly, showing her perfectly cared for, shining white teeth as she walked over and shut the door, pulling out her phone, and dialing in Tansis' number.

Tansis was in the middle of cleaning up after her break fast, setting the skillet to soak in the sink, along with silver ware and paint. It was nearing lunch time, almost time for the other highblood's to start coming back so they could wrap this whole thing up, when the sound of her phone going off, got the dancer troll's attention. With a curious little trill, she waltzed back into her living room, around the still hanging Karkat, pausing to make sure the male was still alive, before plucking up her phone with all the pleasantries of a song bird, "Taaaansis speaking."

"hiiii Tansis~! I just wanted to start off with saying that, maybe in other circumstances, me and you could have been best friends~!" Cee sang back, giving a short little giggle. "unfortunately, you had your eyes on my toy, and I just couldn't let that go, now could I?"

That pleasant little smile didn't fade from Tansis lips as she gave her head a tilt, though there was a slight hardening of the eyes, "Your toy?" questioned the female for a moment, before she glanced over at the hanging mutant blood for all of a minute. Then like a light bulb, it flickered into her mind, "Ooooh, I see now. Toy, Mr. Grape Jelly, lovely Miss Cee is TenaciousObsession," purred the female as she perched on the chair and crossed her legs with a giggle of her own. "Oh dear, so I was right that you were using me. You're soooo devious!"

"awww~ see, this is why I wanted us to be friends~! But you're too much of a wild card in my plans, so I had to get rid of you somehow! But you were so much fun to be with, that I figured I'd at least let you have some fun with my toy before you died. But you're time with him has run out now"

Tansis gave a tilt of her head as she hopped back to her feet, eyes narrowing ever so slight with suspicion, "You keep saying such pleasantly dark words, but I'm just a weeee bit confused. I'm apparently doomed, but I would super appreciate it if you'd tell me how?"

"Heeheehee~! Gamzee is coming for you~!"

She laughed now, a full, delicious sound to her own ears, before she stopped, her voice suddenly becoming still and deadly, all traces of humor vanishing from it.

"So run, highblood, run like the coward you are and run from death"

And with that, she ended the call, shoved the phone in her pocket, smiled at Maka, and then two took off out the door.

The Dancer troll fell silent, that smile finally falling from her lips, as wide eyes pulled the phone from her ear to stare at the flickering screen, flashing to signal the end of the call. Tansis jumped, as a loud slam came from downstairs, echoing into all of the halls, and without a second thought, she did exactly as Cee said. She ran, hand reaching out to grab one of her whips from the wall, a blur of a blood stained white dress, and long unbound hair, as she vanished down the hall towards the opposite end of where the dorm's main entrance was. Disappearing through the stairwell door, just as from the opposite end, a troll with wild indigo eyes slammed open the other door with such force, he nearly tore itself free at it's hinges. In a flash he was half-way down the hall, just as Jarren appeared from the stairs as well. "Fuck... G-Zee... and dat damned... flash step," he panted, and was understandably surprised, when he saw Gamzee frozen in a door way, his expression non-viewable from his vantage point. But when he caught up and came to the male's side, he was not in the least surprised at what caused the Capricorn to stop. But hell if his eyes didn't widen in shock.

There was just... so much fucking blood.


	67. One Bitch Down

Gamzee stared at the splatters of brilliant red blood, some dried, some still drying. Jarren at one shoulder, that dark shadow of his other self at the other. Through his eyes, those spots, were all but glowing, the walls and floor it rested on, were churning around all the red, as if attempting to devour that color, that precious thing. The Capricorn took a step, face cold, expressionless, took another step... and he could see Karkat. Oh fuck, Karkat. He was at the male's side in an instance, shaking hands lifting up the male's shoulders so that he was no longer hanging upside down, "Karkat," and from his chest, came the barest hint of a whimper, before, "Cut him down."

Jarren was in the room by then, wide eyes taking in the scene, but when Gamzee spoke, his eyes flickered uncertainly to him. "G-Zee, I don't th-"

"CUT HIM DOWN RIGHT NOW YOU USELESS MOTHERFUCKER," snarled the Capricorn, before he took a wavering breath, "I've got him."

The circulatory troll was silent just a few seconds more, before he unhooked the frisbee from his belt, and tossed it in the air, concentrating on the gears to expand his weapon, before focusing it even further to have it spine as fast as he could get it, and then with a push of his mind, had it cut through the thick rope that had Karkat strung up like a piece of meat. As the Capricorn said, he caught the male before he could even hit the floor.

Gamzee adjusted the dead weight, the rage in his eyes dimming as he knelt to place the male gently on the floor, keeping one arm around his shoulders to support him, as the other felt for a pulse at Karkat's throat. Jarren removing the rest of the ties that bound the male, and removing them silently, gaze flickering between Karkat and the Capricorn. "Karkat... come on motherfucker... come on," growled Gamzee with no real malice, his chest feeling heavier, and heavier.

* * *

><p>It was nice and quiet here, and Karkat didn't want to leave. He wasn't sure where 'here' was, but it didn't matter, there was no pain here, no burning wounds or irritation or that horrible hollow feeling, just... peace. So he stayed here, wrapped in this darkness around him, eyes steadily closing more and more, the reality of the world slipping away.<p>

Until he heard something say his name.

His eyes opened up just a fraction of an inch, the darkness before him wavering, and he frowned, trying to snuggle himself deeper into it. Above him, a light, bright and painful to look at, appeared, but for some reason, he knew if he just reached up for it he could grab it. But he didn't want to, but he did.

Somewhere in that darkness, another figure emerged, an opposite version of himself that looked younger, maybe only around thirteen in human 'years', six sweeps in his own. eyes that were just starting to reveal their red staring at him in his covers of darkness, a disapproving look in them. He knew, somehow, that to stay in this darkness would mean peace, yes, but also death, he would stop existing, stop all the pain and just make it all go a-STOP THAT.

He blinked, looking at that younger version of him, as it seemed to speak, no sound coming from it's lips, but he could hear it in his head all the same.

_DIDN'T GET THIS FAR JUST TO FUCKING DIE_

It reached it's hand out, pointing at him, and then at the light, he looked up, staring into that bright light that seemed to be slowly fading from him, but when he looked back, that other version of himself was gone. Though it's voice was still in his head, or rather, his own voice.

_'HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT DYING'_

Out of the darkness and into that painful burning light.

And as he did so, he immediately became aware of his own body, parts of it, most of it, anyway. And the first thing he was aware of was this horrendous, blinding pain. It didn't register in his mind that he was cut down, or that those fucking highbloods were gone, replaced by two that wouldn't bring harm to him. All he could think about was the pain. His body tensed up, shivering, and a whimper escaped his throat.

Gamzee froze, eyes widened and pupils contracting, as they locked on Karkat's face. The red in that gaze receded, though the sheer amount of blood over the Cancer's form seemed to negate that effect in the reflection of indigo irises. Then, the Capricorn released a breath that he hadn't been aware he had, and dipped his head into Karkat's shoulders, pulling him as close as possible, his entire form visibly shaking.

Jarren released his own breath, Karkat was alive, that was something, but he was loosing a whole hell of a lot of blood. First things first, he dialed 911, wondering briefly if he would be able to get Gamzee to release the Cancer by the time the paramedics arrived. The answer was quicker than expected, address given with a brief run down, and then he hung up when the lady on the other line tried to get all... touchy and nosy about his feelings and how he was doing given the situation. Now, they needed to start bandaging Karkat, make the bleeding stop. In silence he leaned forward, and placed a weary hand on Gamzee's shoulder, "Hey, G-Zee w-" he cut off what he said, as the Capricorn began to laugh. It started off as a chuckle, but began to violently escalate, switching with frightening speed between a high and low pitch. Jarren could imagine himself going insane, just by listening to that sound.

Then, the claws of one of Gamzee's hands were at Jarren's throat, not sinking in, but applying enough pressure to make the violet blooded troll freeze to avoid getting impaled by those sharp points. From his hunched over position, the Capricorn was looking up at him side-ways, other arm still around Karkat's shoulders in a manner that could have been possessive, the paint on his face smeared with both the Cancer's blood, and to Jarren's shock, trails of clear indigo liquid overflowing from the corner of his eyes, tracing around that vicious smile he possessed."I'm going to kill her," he whispered, laughter following that simple sentence. Before Jarren was yanked down none-to kindly, to be eye level with Gamzee, "I'm going to tear off her MOTHER FUCKING SKIN, drag her across the pavement. Honk. AND STRING HER UP WITH HER OWN BONES AT THE SIDE OF A MOTHERFUCKING FERRIS WHEEL, AND WATCH AS CARRION BEASTS DEVOUR HER INCH BY FUCKING INCH!"

Jarren swallowed, dread swelling in his chest as he could see the reflection of hundreds of murders happening in the Capricorn's eyes, "Okay," he breathed, gaze flickering from Karkat to Gamzee, as those indigo eyes hardened further, tears no longer flowing, but that laughter didn't stop. Then Jarren was pulled a fraction closer, "Keep him all up and fucking alive. If he dies, you motherfucking die. You feel me brother?" Jarren simply gave a sharp nod, before Gamzee released him, turning back to Karkat to oh-so gently lay the male with surprising care against the ground. The circulatory rummaging through Tansis shelves to find where she kept her medical kit. All troll's had one as it was mandatory for strife.

As the immediate sensation of the pain began to give away to other things, Karkat was faintly aware of voices, and the fact that blood wasn't rushing to his head (what was fucking left of it anyway). He was laying down on the ground, and no part of his body would obey his commands to move, it simply hurt too much, or felt too heavy to move. Through the pain, he was aware that he had lost a lot of blood, he felt like he wasn't getting enough air, and it was only getting worse. His chest felt tight, heavy, and that wasn't completely the swelling or the broken ribs' faults.

He felt something on his shoulders, but he couldn't open his eyes to see what it was, and he had to wait until he felt himself being laid across the ground, more distant noise finding it's way to his ears. Funny, he knew they were right there, whoever it was, but he could barely hear them, like his ears were stuffed full of cotton. Those vibrant red eyes opened just a fraction of an inch, hazed over and glazed from pain, looking at the dark figures in the room, both of them. One of them looked familiar, but he couldn't concentrate on it.

"...G...Gamz..."

Gamzee froze, eyes connecting with what little of those eyes, could be seen between Karkat's lids. Immediately, his hands came up to rest on either side of the Cancer's head, and he gently leaned forward, pressing his fore-head against the male's, soft smile replacing the mad one, "I'm here brother. I'm all kinds of motherfucking here."

Jarren appeared then, opening up a box and pulling out bandages, wraps and supplies. "G-Zee, if ya dun hurry, T-Sis is gonna get uhway."

Like a flash of lightning, that soft expression changed on the Capricorn's face, "No, she won't... I'll seriously return Karkat, just gotta navigate and find the bitch that did this fucking to you," shit, Karkat didn't look like he could really hear him, but Gamzee didn't care. He was just relieved on such an incredibly level that it actually hurt, felt as though his vascular pump could explode from his chest, for the mere fact that he could still speak to the Cancer. That he was still here, on this rink-a-dink little fucking planet with him. That he still wasn't alone.

It was so hard to hear what was being said, the words were too muffled, too far away, and only getting further away as he fought slipping back into unconsciousness. But he could understand that Gamzee was leaving, and he didn't want him to. A terror clenched around his mind, mixing with the pain and dizziness, and suddenly he couldn't think again, only fight to stay awake. Those red eyes of his dimmed even further, slowly closing as he painfully swallowed. He wanted to beg the indigo eyed troll not to leave, but he couldn't force the words out.

The Capricorn slowly began to stand, brush some of Karkat's infamous bed hair, away from his eyes, and he was shaking. But not for the same reason he was before. A final look passed to Jarren, a silent understanding, before in a flash of color, Gamzee was gone.

The circulatory troll let out a shaky sigh, glancing down at the Capricorn with a look that was meant to be a scowl, but felt off. It figured, he was finally read to duel Karkat again, and then he had to pull this bulge sucking move, and get himself kidnapped and cut up by Tansis. Damn, Gamzee was going to go kill Tansis. Jarren didn't know how to react, if he should any bit of sorrow that that crazy dancer bitch was more than likely going to die, or relief. He had known her since they were young, barely three sweeps, before she began getting infected by the highblood's madness. He shook his head, turning his attention back to the mutant blooded male.

"Yer like uh lightnin rod for tis shit Crabbeh," he grumbled under his breath, as he began to bandage the male's arm, trying to stop the bleeding so he wouldn't die before the ambulance could arrive.

Two female voices came from down the hallway only a few minutes after the Capricorn left. One monotone and even, the other in varying waves of emotion, mostly sounding worried and a little bit agitated, and it wasn't too long before the owners of the voices appeared at the door. Cee's eyes widened at the sight of all the blood, shrinking away slightly as if she felt she might be sick, Maka, on the other hand, barely seemed to notice it, instead focusing on Jarren.

"We would have been here sooner, but Cee did not want to come up here while Gamzee was... enraged" She informed him, glancing sideways at her moirail before focusing back on Jarren, though this time she remained silent, letting the other female speak.

"I... I kinda feel like some of it was my fault, I mean I saw him in here earlier but I didn't tell anyone because I didn't know. I'm sorry" She stated, still looking as though she felt a little ill. "Uhmm... I could try to help heal some of his wounds, if... if he's still alive I mean"

Jarren's eyes flickered between the two female's silently, shoulders immediately tense, despite the fact that at least one of the two seemed effected by what they saw. Still, they already had one highblood try and kill the Cancer (though by the different ways he was cut, there may have been several others) and Gamzee wasn't making idle threats when he said if Karkat died, then he would join him. But... Cee's power could also heal wounds, and fuck if he didn't stop this bleeding "He's still uhlive, ya think G-Zee would have left t'e room wit me kickin if he wasn't?" he hesitated only a few seconds more, before he gave a tight nod, "Alright, ya can do t'e flesh ting. But no funny business."

"W...well I guess you're right" Cee responded, eyes seeming to flicker nervously to the side as she came in, carefully avoiding the blood, as if she were afraid of it touching her, and made her way to Jarren's side. She knelled down, careful to get as little red on her clothing as possible as she carefully turned over Karkat's arms and legs, inspecting all of the wounds, marking them down in her mind, before finally turning to his face. "I don't think I can heal all of it, but I can at least stop most of the bleeding" She stated, biting down on her lower lip as she then lightly patted the mutant blood's cheek.

Karkat's eyes opened ever so slightly, and that was all Cee needed, at once she locked her eyes onto his weak, nearly blind gaze, and the white melted away from her eyes. The skin over the welts in the cancer's skin began to melt together like water, closing and healing, leaving not a single trace that they were ever there save for a slight amount of swollen flesh. The worst of them closed up, leaving plenty of wounds behind, but there was a tremendous difference.

Funny, considering her actions thus far, one could almost wonder why she was helping him, it was simple, she hated scars, and she hated it when her toys died on her. If she didn't heal the Cancer, then she'd love her currently favorite toy. And this way she could do it with arising as little suspicion as possible.

Once the worst of the wounds were gone, she sighed, drawing back and closing her eyes, the glowing white utterly drained from them when she reopened them, revealing the normal yellow sclera of most trolls, with dark blue irises, so dark blue that they seemed nearly black, barely differentiated from her pupils.

"I...I'm sorry, that's all I could do"

The circulatory troll didn't respond at first, staring at Karkat for a few more heart beats, as if to make sure no further damage had been done, before he let out a heavy sigh. "Tat's fine... Tanks Cee. Now we just gottuh make sure t'e prick don't die before t'e hospital folks get here."

* * *

><p>Her breath produced small plumes of mist in the chilled autumn air, her feet a hasty patter as bare skin met the side-walk with wild abandon, the need to escape pumping violently through her veins, produced by an erratic heart that thundered against her chest. This wasn't how she expected things to happen, wasn't how she had hope for them to happen, wasn't how it SHOULD have happened. A small scowl danced across lips that normally held such a sweet smile. Dammit! By now Karkat SHOULD have been dead, her room SHOULD have caught fire, and the mutant's body SHOULD have been floating down to the bottom of the river to be devoured by flesh eating Lusus! But no, Cee had told Gamzee, she didn't know how or by what means, but she had made that much clear. It had all been a game from the beginning.<p>

Cold air stung Tansis lungs, as she stumbled, pausing for a moment as she panted, hands on her knees, ignoring the looks she received. As yes, she was still covered in bright red blood. The grip on her still closed weapon tightened, knuckles turning from gray to white as she struggled to catch her breath. She was nearly outside of the campus, on the opposite side from the dorms, nearly to the parking lot where she could get in her car and get some real speed. Damn, when did this campus get so big? Sucking in two more massive breaths, she began to run again, long hair swaying back and forth. In time with her heart beat.

Then she heard it.

Honk.

Honk Honk.

Immediately she jumped between two buildings, pressing her back against the brick surface, wide eyes staring out across the campus grounds. Shit! Where was he? She knew she had heard it, knew she wasn't going mad. She leaned forward, scanning. Before she felt breath against the side of her neck, "Hey little sis."

Tansis whirled around, chills scraping up her back as in one smooth moment she released her blade-like whip and struck. But her weapon lashed against empty air, ricocheting off the brick wall she had been leaning against. No one was there.

Her heart beat began to elevate, as she took two slow steps backwards, breath coming shallower. Then, from above-

Hoooooonk, honk-honk.

She glanced up and saw no one, then ran.

The parking lot was no longer her goal, no, Gamzee was onto her. Hell, he was fucking with her and she knew it! She needed to get to an open area where she could use her whip without issue, but every way she turned seemed to lead her down a narrow path, either by close buildings, or numbers of students. Fuck! And she had to stay outside, out in the open, where she could see him coming. Or at least, had a chance of seeing him. No matter how many turns she took, her feet becoming scraped and torn by gravel and debris, leaving light violet foot prints in her wake, she could still hear the honking. Oh god, it was everywhere.

Then finally, an opening. She sprinted across the street, the squeal of tires and a different kind of honking filling her ears as she ran towards the other side, off of Skaia's property and into a network of alleys. Had to loose him, she had to loose him. There were too many lefts, too many rights. Her lungs and her feet stung, skin going numb, but she kept going.

Honk

Honk Honk

HOOOOOOOOONK

A dead end.

Tansis whirled around, brandishing her whip. Fuck it all! She played right into Gamzee's hands. She glared down the the alley, eyes flicking up towards the roofs, back to the gaping maw of her cage and all around, looking for any flash of movement. Any sign he was coming. Her hands were shaking as step by careful step, she moved herself closer to the brick wall behind her. Mere feet from her back making contact with the surface, she spoke, "Ooooh Gamzeeee. Come out, come out, wherever you are!" there was a waver to her voice, though it stayed just as pleasant, rang just as sweet.

And then there was a heavy thud behind her, as if something had fallen a great distance. She froze, feeling movement in her hair, until something grabbed hold of her locks and jerked her head back with a painful snap, indigo eye glaring bright into her own, "POP GOES THE MOTHERFUCKING WEASEL BITCH!"

It was on a reflex that she twisted her arm up, flicking her whip over her bent over frame. But Gamzee was quick, ducking as the flexible blade scarred the brick where he had previously stood. Her balance lost, Tansis stumbled back, but collided with the wall, her skull and shoulders scraping painfully as she forced herself to straighten, and in one smooth movement, lashed out her whip again. But the Capricorn was already directly in front of her, claws digging into the wrist that held Tansis' weapon and bending it backwards with a sickening crack. She shrieked as both shock and pain trembled up her arm, fingers convulsing and her whip clattering useless against the ground. Then those claws that were around her wrist, flashed to her neck, literally digging into either side of her throat as Gamzee stepped back, his blood smeared face, a dark smile, as he dragged her with him.

Tansis' good hand rose up to curl around Gamzee's wrist, trying to pull free, digging her claws into his hand, twisting, but he didn't even flinch. Didn't even blink. Just started to laugh, "You're so motherfucking pathetic sis. SO MANY MOTHERFUCKING LEVELS OF PATHETIC! Did you really let it run through your EMPTY LITTLE THINK PAN, that you could defy me? COULD FUCKING DEFY ME AND ABSCOND FROM THE CONSEQUENCES!" Gamzee twisted, jerking his arm side-ways and slamming Tansis against the wall, knocking the air from her lungs as the claws in her neck dug deeper.

He leaned in, face inches from her snarling, from her fear stricken eyes, and his smile grew, "You don't know Tansis. You think you were all up and informed, but YOU DON'T KNOW MOTHERFUCKING SHIT!" maddening laughter tore from his lips then, "I'M THE GRAND FUCKING HIGHBLOOD MOTHERFUCKER! I HEAR THEM! I HEAR THEM ALL! You don't hear the Dark Carnival, don't have your auditory ducts tuned in. DON'T KNOW HOW TO RIDE THE FUCKING RIDES," then he jerked her close, free hand snaking around her waist as she continued to struggle, that wandering claw resting feather light on her lower back for only a split second, before, "Like how to break a motherfucker's spine without inducing death."

A scream like nails on glass, ripped from Tansis lips as oh-so-slowly, Gamzee's claws pierced the cloth and skin of her lower back, on either side of her spine, sliding in inch by painful inch. Deeper and deeper, violet blood swelled and flowed from where each appendage penetrated flesh, slowly curling until his hand was wrapped around her spine. A mocking growl came from the Capricorn's lips, as he traced the each indention of the female's vertebrae, almost seeming to count them. Then, without warning his wrist twisted, and there was a fleshy snap.

A soundless shriek came from Tansis lips, tears flowing from her eyes as pain shot up her back, and her legs suddenly went numb. With them no longer supporting her, Gamzee's claws in her neck sank deeper, and was now the only thing holding her up. Her mouth stayed gaping in muted screams, and gurgled snarls. "I may not have a lot of time, NOT A MOTHERFUCKING LOT OF TICKS AND TOCKS SIS, but you will get schooled on pain. SCHOOLFED ABOUT THE REAL MIRACLES I CAN MOTHERFUCKING PRODUCE!" Then he threw her body all but limp, watching as it slammed against the wall, and collapsed in a heap of useless flesh. Then Gamzee simply stopped for a moment, and took a deep breath, tongue running over paint and blood splattered lips. Before from the corner of mad indigo eyes, he spotted Tansis' whip.

There was only a second wasted, before Gamzee walked slow and steady over to it. Karkat was waiting for him, but he would not let the earth sucking little worm die so easy. Even if he wasn't going to around for it, she would die nice and slow. The Capricorn's violet covered hands, wrapped around the whip's handle, and he rose, striding over to where Tansis had propped herself up with her good hand and was making a useless attempt, at searching for escape or something to fight with. Anything. But she froze as Gamzee looked down upon her. "Honk, honk. You want a culling ceremony motherfucker? YOU'LL GET A FUCKING CULLING CEREMONY!"

Gamzee grabbed her by the hair and jerked backwards, dragging the writhing female away from the wall, down the alley, and to the back door of one of the buildings. With a snarl, he lifted one foot up and kicked twice, the fake wood splintering and buckling open with a sharp crack. The screams of the inhabitants were ignored, every step he took leaving a long trail of violet blood in his wake. Tansis did not once give up her struggle, her gurgled pleas of stop, of his name, of his title. Then, he found the stairs and began to climb. Up, up, and up three stories, until with another slam of his foot, the roof door was kicked open.

He dragged her to the edge, never slowing, never speeding, a steady stalk. And when he reached the edge, he lifted Tansis up by her hair, curled the whip back, and struck forward. The twisting blade, latched itself onto it's Master's abdomen and chest, over and over, the tip lashing against Gamzee as it cycled. Each circulation cut deeper and deeper into the she-troll. Then, he unraveled several feet, shoving the handle of the whip between blade and flesh three times to form a sort of knot, the whimpers and gurgled words from the she-troll lost on him now. Then, Tansis' eyes widened as realization of what Gamzee was about to do, reached her horrified gaze.

The Capricorn turned then, placing the whip's handle under his foot and bent it backwards once, then twice, bending the metal into a hook, the likes of which he wedged into the lip of the roof. Satisfied, he turned back to whimpering Tansis, claws striking out to grab her by the throat once more, and lift her to his gaze. "May the messiahs make your death slow, LIKE A SCRATCH IN THE CD OF TIME CAUSING AN ETERNAL MOTHER-FUCKING REPEAT!" And then he paused, and simply stared for a long, solid moment, before that fanged smile pulled back one last time. "Wish you could have seen my reign sis, would have been so fucking mirthful. But these writhing little insects gotta understand, YOU DON'T FUCK, WITH THE MOTHERFUCKING KING OF THE CARNIVAL!"

He threw her over the edge, her free hand reaching towards him as the laws of physics claimed her. Silent as he watched the line grow taught, the hook holding, and listened to the initial tear of metal into flesh. Then Gamzee simply turned, walking back towards the stairs and leaving Tansis as her screams and wails of pain from having the blade of her own whip cut deeper and deeper with each struggle and inevitable effect of gravity, reached his auditory ducts.

That beautiful sound, followed him, even as he stepped back onto the grounds of Skaia University.

When Gamzee returned, all he had to do was follow the crowd and flashing lights, to find out where Karkat would be. It wasn't difficult to get through the gathering of people, most humans had enough sense that when they saw someone walking towards them with blood on their arms, upper body and face, to move. The troll's in the group, merely had to look at his eyes to know to get the hell out of his way. When he managed to get to the dorms, he came upon the sight of Jarren arguing rigorously with a paramedic, as they wheeled Karkat out of the apartment on a gurney. Immediately, indigo eyes latched onto the male's frame and he took a step forward. He was stopped by the hand of campus security on his shoulder.

Jarren wasn't sure what exactly happened. One minute he was arguing with one of those asinine so called emergency medical operators, the next there was the sound of a man screaming. Well, it looked like Gamzee had returned... and had one of the security eyes on his knees with his arm yanked backwards at what appeared to be a painful angle. "Shit," he growled under his breath as he dodged around the blinking paramedic and jogged over to the Capricorn's side, "Chill man, he didn't know you're wit K-Kat." Gamzee looked up at the male, stared at him for a long moment, before releasing him, and without another glance or word, turned and walked to the back of the ambulance, Jarren at his side.

"He's stable fer now, but tere gonna take him back quick to t'e hospital. After he's loaded up, ah can take us in m-"

"I'm riding with him."

Jarren blinked, brow wrinkling, "Gam, I don't tink tey'll let ya. Normally only Matesprits or small Lusus can ride wit tem."

Gamzee didn't comment further, simply continued to stalk forward, watching silently as Karkat was place in the back, before the first paramedic ran around to the driver's side, the second one about to hop in, but stopped by the sight of the Capricorn. "I'm playing tag along."

Paramedic number two blinked down at him, "Sorry kid b-"

"If I have to hitch a different form of relocation to the medical facility, I will personally up and find you whenever I motherfucking arrive, rip out your air pipe, and use it as a fucking funnel to pour your liquefied innards into all of the human wrigglers feed sacks at the sick ward."

Jarren and the paramedic stared wide-eyed at the Capricorn, before the circulatory troll cleared his throat, "He's uh... very protective moirail."

"Yeah... fine, hop in, but make it quick. We gotta get moving."

Gamzee needed no further confirmation that that, as he pulled himself up and into the vehicle, eyes immediately on Karkat as the doors closed and the ambulance lightly jerked to life. In silence, the Capricorn reached out one of his claws, tangling it lightly in the Cancer's shirt.

"Sorry brother."

Karkat wasn't sure when, or even of the fact that he lost consciousness again. He remembered being woken up, something touching his face, and then a bright white light that made him cold from head to toes, temporarily nulling out the pain only to have it come back in full force a few seconds later. He had sunk back into the blackness after that, just sort of hovering there.

It wasn't a dream, not really, there was nothing there, not even himself, just an awareness of himself, and the fact that time was going by, but he wasn't sure, nor did he care, about how much was going by.

And then that awareness vanished.

The two paramedics who had ridden in the back with the two trolls both jumped to attention when the already erratic heartbeat of the red blooded troll began to spike down, rapidly dying (they had been working on cleaning off the blood from the more serious wounds they could find and patching him up as best they could with their current equipment). At once, the female began to preform CPR, keeping oxygen moving the second his heart stopped, and the other went for the defibrillator, both of them keeping up the epitome of calm.

The few seconds it took for the machine to charge, they cut away his shirt, gently moving Gamzee's hands away so that he wouldn't disrupt the electrical current to shock his heart back into beating, and then the order was given.

_"Clear"_

The Capricorn was immediately alert, looking between the two, before down at the Cancer, confusion filtering through his gaze. Then it registered what that beeping sound was, and what it meant for it to be slowing down to a whisper. "Karkat?," he hissed, watching as the medical people placed those metal blocks onto the male's chest, attempting to apparently, jump start his beeping, his heart. Gamzee's hands clenched into fists, claws biting into his own palms as he fought the urge to lean over the male to touch him, his eyes switching erratically from the paramedics, to Karkat. Alternating between panic, and a glare.

The first shock did nothing, merely made his heart go for a beat or two, before stopping, and the machine began to recharge. For two agonizingly long minutes, the woman continued doing CPR, calmly and precisely, doing her best to keep oxygen flowing through his system as best she could, before a second round of electricity was brought into play.

_"Clear"_

It sounded similar to a muffled gunshot when the second shock went through, the monitor beeping twice, pausing, and then starting up a somewhat rapid rhythm once more, indicating his heart had restarted. The paddles were taken away, and the woman tilted his head back ever so slightly, putting two fingers on his throat, feeling for the pulse automatically, while she lowered her ear down to his mouth, watching his chest rise and fall to make sure he was breathing on his own as well.

Gamzee locked his gaze on Karkat, eyes flickering erratically between him and the female, waiting for confirmation... hell, for anything. Then when all seemed well, he let out a shaky breath of relief. Damn, Karkat probably wouldn't be happy in the Vast Honk, if he looked down and saw he killed the medical people. An unsteady laugh came from the indigo blood, as he ran his hands over his face, "Shit bro, how many times you gonna reset my vascular pump today?"


	68. Hospital Visit

Twelve fucking page update

be happy XD

_-Eren_

* * *

><p>It was still early in the morning when the ambulance reached the hospital, barely minutes after they had stopped by the dorms, twice now, once for a mustard blooded troll, second for the red blooded troll they were now pulling out of the ambulance, strapped to a gurney. It was bad, looked like one of the trolls at the university had gone on a rampage, though the details weren't clear. Cops were most likely looking into it, just to get things straight. Unless humans were hurt, no one would be punished. For all the trolls cared for, they could run around and murder each other all they wanted. They had no punishment system for that kind of thing. Very, very few trolls were actually protected.<p>

The paramedics felt they didn't have any choice but letting the troll covered in red and purple blood come with, mainly because he threatened them rather graphically. But they felt that, at the moment, he was concerned for his friend, so he wouldn't be a threat to their patient, at least so long as he didn't get in the way.

For five hours they had the short mutant blooded troll in intensive care. Most of the ribs he had were cracked, and his legs were a bit messed up, especially the left one, his ankle was seriously broken, and they needed to do surgery to put some pins in it to set it in place, and once they stitched his leg back up, put it in a cast covering his entire leg from foot to knee.

Various parts on his body had to be disinfected and bandaged, especially the hand which had been skinned. But instead of setting him in a normal hospital bed, they had to use a special one they reserved for trolls in worse conditions than usual when they came here. It was something like a recooporacoon, but bigger than usual, with the top half cut off and filled with more slime than usual, sort of like a bathtub of slime. Only one half of the bottom was raised up steadily at an incline, so someone could be put in there without fear of them slipping down under the slime, sort of like being propped up on a pillow.

Karkat lay in it, unmoving and unresponsive, for the entire day, regularly checked up on by nurses at least every few minutes. The doctors showed some concern for the fact that he hadn't woken up yet, but said it was perfectly normal for someone who went through trauma like that to slip into a very temporary coma that lasted a day or two, and attempted to stress it to Gamzee to relax, but most often, began to just leave him alone, mostly ignoring him when they came in and checked.

And Gamzee paid them the same kindness, only glancing up at them from the chair by Karkat's bed when they entered, before returning his gaze silently to the male. Yet, even when they assured him that this was normal, that Karkat wasn't in any danger, he still never left the male's side. He didn't eat, no one could be sure if he even slept. He did shower, removing the blood from his body (and consequently the paint from his face), before allowing the doctor to bandage his wrist where Tansis' claws had sank in. But for the most part, he simply ignored everything else, slipping in and out of his own mind, silent.

This was how the first day came to pass.

One the second, the Capricorn was more aware. What rage and insanity that had been plauging his mind after the death of the female highblood, had dwindled to soft murmurs in the background, quiet whispers in the walls. There would have been a temporary peace in the male, there usually was after he killed. But Karkat was laying unconcious in the hospital, because he couldn't protect him. Because he had failed at looking out for one of the few fuckers who tolerated and cared an ounce about himself in this fucking world. He had managed to kill Tansis, but the deed had already been done, and according to a text from Valus early that morning, other's had been involved. At the moment though, he could not be bothered to bring up any rage, any scorn. At the moment, though he could see gore cascading down the walls, and an unholy twist of human and Troll skeletons in his periphreal, all he could hear was the beeping of the hospital machines. All he could see, was what he had failed to prevent.

Gamzee didn't even blink as the door opened and a face that didn't belong to neither a nurse or doctor, entered with a muffled click.

"Hey G-Zee," murmured Jarren as he shoved his hands into the pocket of that awful white coat of his, collar popped as per usual. He was answered with a low growl, but no further acknowledgement than that. The circulatory troll felt irritation prickling at the back of his neck, as he stepped closer, coming up on the otherside of the hospital bed and peering down at the still motionless form of Karkat. "Any changes?" Silence. "Shit dude, ah tink it'll be alright. Tese doctuhs know what tey are doin'. Tey keep Svesta uhlive."

Gamzee glanced up at that, and Jarren flinched only slightly, mostly because the oddity of seeing the Capricorn without his face paint. It was kind of eerie as well, the lack of emotion there. At least with the make-up, one could pretend. "Any flesh movements?" he finally spoke, his voice deep and low.

"Nah man, still out. Brain activity spiked uh wee bit t'ough." Jarren shifted his stance awkwardly, as those indigo eyes returned to the Cancer. "G-Zee have ya eaten tuhday?" No response once more. "Look, ya gottuh eat." Still no response, and Jarren let out an audible growl of frustration. "G-Zee ahm serious, you tink K-Kat's going tuh be happy tuh wake up an see ya starvin?" Okay, so it's only been a day, but still, that logic seemed to escape the Capricorn in his current state, as he looked back up to the Circulatory troll once more. "Look, ah'll stay wit Crabbeh while ya run to da cafeteria." He paused as a growl came from Gamzee, "Ahm t'e one tat helped ya find him, so don't give me tat shit. Ah won't let anyting happen to da little prick while yer gone."

They had a small stare-off. Indigo eyes staring unblinking into dark violet. Only the sound of the hospital machines in the background. Beep-beep-beep-beep.

"Alright motherfucker. I'll got put something in my protein chute." Gamzee relented, pushing up from his chair, "I'll be all of a minute, don't leave my diamond bro's side."

"Yeah, yeah," snarled Jarren as he leaned against the wall, flicking his head towards the entrance to the room as an indication for the male to get going. "Just hurry will ya. Ah wanna talk tuh Svesta s'more."

Gamzee gave a nod and headed for the door, casting one more glance over his shoulder, skimming over the unconcious form of Karkat, before turning. The door closing with a soft click. Jarren sighed, as a headache pulled at the front of his mind. Man, this whole situation was just all kinds of fucked up.

. . .

It was like a constant torrent of memories and insane nightmares. One second he was screaming as he was being torn apart, hooked claws digging into his flesh, ripping, tearing, eating. Something with hundreds of faces chasing him, curling around him, suffocating. Two trolls in particular whose faces kept coming up, one of which disgusted him, made him feel sick and filthy, the other which filled him with this terrible fear.

Then, memories, of being in a dark room. He could remember the girl, things she did to him, cutting him up, ripping out his organs, forcing him to painfully regrow limbs or once, when she even made him eat his own flesh by shoving it into his mouth as a sort of impromptu gag to stop him from screaming. Oh god, so many things. But each time his mind flashed to that second face, a male with slicked back hair and horns that curled out behind him, his vision and body went blank, like he was refusing to remember it. He could hardly complain, the hours of blackness was so much more preferable compared to the screaming torment.

He was constantly swallowed by it, screaming wordlessly into his own mind, with those brief periods of rest to piece his crumbling sanity back together. It was in one of these pockets of darkness, trying to regain himself before he was pulled back in, when he felt it. A sharp, horrible pain that shot up and down his legs and waist, like his organs were burning from the inside, being beaten and set aflame. It faded quickly, leaving him be.

But in the waking world, his fingers twitched in response to the remembered pain, ever so sightly.

One would not think that such a small movement would catch someone's eye. But when you've been standing in a room for ten minutes, no entertainment and the only sound the steady beep of a heart monitor. Little details rarely go unnoticed.

Jarren had not left his position and was still leaning against the wall, staring at the curtains that concealed the outside world from the small room. He had been using the passing minutes as an opportune time, to practice the age old of art, of counting how many traingle shaped stitches that were sewn into the above mentioned drapes. When from the corner of his eyes, that movement, caught his open ended attention.

"Crabbeh?" mumbled Jarren, staring for a moment more. Had Karkat moved before? The highblood couldn't recall, as he shifted his weight and thought it over a few seconds more, before with a sigh, he pulled out his cell. Hell, it wouldn't hurt to ask.

TR: HeY G-zeE,, HaS CrabbY BeeN TwitchinG FoR YoU ToO?

Then he waited... and waited... and waited. But there was no response. Fuck it, Gamzee's phone had probably died or something. Oh well, he could ask him when he- what was that sound? Jarren fell real quiet then, listening to at first was a rapid tapping, that steadily increased in volume, until the troll was able to recognize the sound as running foot steps. Then the room's door all but slammed open, it only failed to do so, for Gamzee kept a hold on the handle to keep it from richoeting off the wall.

"Woah G-"

"He all up and moved?" Gamzee interupted the other, shutting the door rather hastily, before in a flash, he was at Karkat's side, staring down with furrowed brows at the male. All of the indigo-blood's focus, on the red-blooded Cancer.

"... uh, yeah man. His finguhs did uh twitch... did ya eat anyting? Some sopuh at least?"

The Capricorn leaned down, ignoring Jarren after he explained what part of Karkat had moved. His chest was constricted, air barely passing from Gamzee's lips. "Karkat?"

. . .

He heard people talking, the voices sounded familiar, but at the same time, they sounded so fucking far away. Just like the other noises, the screaming and the moaning and the pain, far on the other side. He just wanted it all to go away, and clasped his metaphorical hands over his heads, squeezing his eyes shut against the noises. But it didn't hinder those two voices, he kept hearing them, getting steadily louder and louder, before he recognized one asking his name.

Before he could react, his body was sore, and his vision was blinded by light, even behind his eyelids. It was a rushing sensation, like the ground he was on was moving forward very fast before coming to a violent halt, leaving him in a new situation now. The screaming was gone, but he was aware of something else now, a constant, annoying beeping that was so much more welcome than the other noises he had been suffering through the last god knew how many hours.

He tried to swallow, his mouth and throat so dry that they hurt, and attempted to move his hand to cover his eyes, block out that burning bright light, but found something was preventing him from moving it too far, a slight pain in his wrist from the IV that was inserted there, but he had no way of knowing that.

For a second, a blind, panicked fear set in that his hand was restrained, he was still in that fucking room, with those horrible highbloods and Tansis, giggling as she cut him up.

He didn't want to open his eyes and see that, see his own blood splattered around the room and his own body mangled and broken, but he did anyway. He blinked against the light, eyes blank and looking as though he hadn't slept for weeks, rather than spent the last day in a half in a temporary coma. Slowly, his eyes began to adjust, focusing on the first nonwhite object that began to form in his vision, a face with wide indigo eyes to the side of where he was laying.

Instantly, those eyes grew a fraction wider, when he saw that red gaze acknowledge him. Gamzee didn't care if there was recognition on the male's face, didn't care at that moment if Karkat remembered him anymore. He was alive, actually alive. The rest of the world could hop inside of a tea cup and spin into an eternal hell, for the Cancer was awake, and at the moment that was all that motherfucking mattered. A clawed hand reached up, brushing back some of the male's crazy bed hair from his face so he could get a better look at those wicked mutant eyes, and after a long pause, that lazy smile finally returned to his lips. "Hey best friend, you up and blessed with understanding?"

Okay, he was awake now, hopefully, and apparently in a hospital, that much he could tell by blinking, his vision finally clearing up and he was now allowed to look upon his surroundings.

So his arms were hooked up to all sorts of IV's and shit, things measuring his heart rate, blood pulse, and whatever else they had needed to keep track of. So it was easy to tell that by pulling on it he probably moved the needle in his damn arm around a little and that's what had hurt. Okay, that was a whole hell of a lot better than what he had first thought it was going to be. He felt himself able to relax now, his memories quickly passing over the most recent events he had been awake for. He had been in Tansis's room, he'd prefer not to think about just this moment what had gone on in there, but he remembered Gamzee and Jarren showing up, blurry images in his memory, just as he had seen them at the time, but after that, it kinda all went black again, back into those horrible nightmares that had gone quiet the instant he woke up.

He turned his gaze back to Gamzee, closing those red eyes of his as he tried to force himself into a sitting position, which resulted in a nearly instant decision that had been fucking stupid to even try to move.

"Oh fuck ow" He blurted, swallowing again, freezing and slowly relaxing his muscles again. "I can understand I'm in a fucking hospital, what else am I supposed to be getting?" He demanded, sounding almost as though he had not just gone through what he had, channeling that fear and pain into anger, it was something he was good at, better than pissing himself in fear and clinging to someone to sob for a while.

"Tat your damn lucky tuh be uhlive and should kissin t'e heel of mah boot in tanks for findin' you," snarled Jarren from his spot at the wall, though there was a smirk on his lips as he said it.

Gamzee let out a small laugh at that, as both hands rose up to run down the length of the male's face, staying there for a moment to act as an impromtu mask, as a shudder passed over his frame. Before those hand pulled away fingers brushing over his eyes in a manner that was almost casue, before that smile returned, "Shit brother, a play back of words was enough to get some response to my question."

Karkat's tired, somewhat blank gaze ran over to Jarren first, regarding what both males said carefully as he assumed very quickly what had happened between these two and possibly others in the moments before he had been found.

"Jarren, shut up and listen for five seconds you pompous douche bag. I'm really grateful and all that you helped save my ass, technically twice now, but can I have a moment alone with Gamzee? Please?" He asked, even hissing out the please in an attempt to sound even partially civil and grateful. He was, he didn't lie about that, but fuck if it hurt admitting it. More his pride than anything else, considering the rest of his body felt like it had been dipped in acid and then beaten with a metal bat pretty much everywhere.

Jarren gave only a slight glower, studying the look on Karkat's face, then Gamzee's, before he grunted and pushed himself from his leaning position on the wall, "Sure, whatevuh, ah got bigger shit tuh deal wit anyway tan uh pissy midget and uh crazy motherfuckuh." The circular troll flicked his hand to the side as some sort of half-assed wave, as he turned and manuevered towards the door, repeating the motion as Gamzee threw a 'see you around bro' his way as a sign that he had been heard. Even before the door closed back into place, the Grand Highblood had his curious gaze back on Karkat. Before he gave this sort of blink, and reached behind him, hands finding the arms of the chair he had not moved from the entire first day, and moved it so it was right beside the specialize recuperacoon.

Though when he sat down, he stayed leaning forward, arms crossing over the lip of the coon, and chin resting there as well, that smile not waivering from Gamzee's face once through the motions. "Man bro, there's so much mirth tingling through my veins that you got your see and hearing going again."

Karkat watched as Jarren left, giving out a sigh, and turning to Gamzee, merely staring at him with this strange, almost sad look on his face as he listened to the indigo highblood. He stayed still for a few moments, before forcing himself into a sitting position, this time bracing himself for the pain and only flinching because of it, and moved his arms; hugging Gamzee about as best he could, what with his arms bandaged up and one partially skinned.

And Gamzee became frozen for all of a second, eyes widening in surprise when he watched Karkat sit up only to embrace him. Only a heart beat passed, before tentative hands snaked around the Cancer's waist to avoid accidentally pulling on any of the attatchments on the other's arms, weary of his injuries. He took a wavering breath to say something, before an action that was not his own caused his hold to tighten a fraction more, and his head to fall against Karkat's shoulder. He was shaking, he didn't know when that had started or why, but he could feel the vibrations racking through his body. This was stupid, so motherfucking stupid. He wasn't the one lying in a fucking coon with near fatal injuries, wasn't the one who had just gone through another version of a living hell. "I'm sorry Karkat," he growled beneath a unsteady breath, "I'm so motherfucking sorry."

"It's not your fault" Karkat answered sternly, his gaze becoming harder as he stared at the wall behind Gamzee, not yet drawing back from the hug. Fuck it was the only thing keeping him together right now, that and the fact that he felt like Gamzee needed some kind of comfort right now, because he thought it was his fault, and it wasn't. It was so stupid. It really was. But this was helping Karkat too, he always held himself together so much better when someone else was close to breaking apart. "I'm the fucking retard that ran off in the middle of the damn night right into an obvious trap"

That brought up another thing, Sollux. Remembering how he found the other male, a huge pang of worry and anxiety twisted up his insides, making them hurt even more. He was positive Sollux was dead, he had been so fucking cold and unmoving back there, but he wanted desperately to ask if he was okay. Because there was that tiny fucking chance that he wasn't dead, just hurt, and jegus that wasn't a good thing but it was better than being gone forever. But as much as he wanted to ask, he knew it had to wait just a few moments.

He could hear his heart beat. And shit if that wasn't the most beautiful sound that had ever entered Gamzee's ears. He didn't move, aside from the shaking from all of the shit he kept contained inside that decaying mind of his. The Capricorn breathed, fighting to regain control, because fuck, he didn't want to let go. What would happen if he realeased Karkat, and this was some mind raping dream that would pull him away as soon as his hold loosened? After a few more minutes, the shaking slowed to a stop as Gamzee struggled back into control, and his breathing leveled out. His heart was still pounding heavily, but this was in combination to relief, and his own memories he buried back inside his think pan.

A few more heart beats and he pulled gently away, arms loosening but not completly leaving Karkat's sides, as he briefly pushed his fore-head against the males in a forced smile, that with his paint on would have been unnoticable to anyone else. Because even though Karkat told him it wasn't his fault, a part of him still felt as though it was. Because he knew Tansis had wanted to kill Karkat. Knew he should have kept a better eye on her... or killed her sooner. _A mistake I won't rewind and repeat,_he pulled back a fraction more, "I'm educated that you aren't alright Karkat... but you all up and okay?" the hard look that had briefly flickered across indigo eyes, returned to one of concern.

"Well, I'm alive, and that's a lot more than I expected" He answered, somewhat avoiding the question because all he wanted to do was laugh and say 'do I fucking look okay to you?'. He was honestly surprised his mind was keeping together as well as it was now, but hell like he'd complain about that. he frowned, biting down on his lower lip as he pulled back his own arms, wincing a bit at the pain, oh right he was in pain, fuck.

"Is... is Sollux...?"

He couldn't even bring himself to ask.

Confusion came across Gamzee's eyes for a brief moment, as he tried to piece together what exactly Karkat was... Oh, right, Sollux had been involved in this shit too. Further silence came from the Capricorn, as a guilty look crossed his features and he pulled back from the Cancer's bed to pull out his cell phone. The likes of which he flipped open and sent a quick text message to a certain troll. A long pause followed afterwards, as he waited for a response. Before the little device gave a ding, and indigo eyes skimmed over what was written.

"Jarren says that our bipolared brother is in deep sleep right now. A motherfucking coma, but his vascular pump is still going."

Karkat wasn't sure to be happy that Sollux was alive or horrified that he was in a coma. But fuck, Karkat had technically been out for... okay he wasn't too sure of that. Maybe it was only temporary? Oh god please let it be temporary. They may get into fights a lot, almost all the fucking time, but Sollux was still considered one of his closest friends. Huh, maybe that was why he hadn't really questioned the note all that much, his brain was so fucking used to just trusting that blind troll that it just shut out any suspicions automatically.

God he felt stupid now.

He bit down on his lower lip, seeming to think hard about something, trying to avoid wincing in pain from various parts on his body steadily getting more awake and thus, sending more fucking pain signals to his brain. Damn he felt sore. "When I can fucking walk, we're going to visit him" He stated, though his tone was far weaker than before, voiced almost more like a request than a demand.

Nonetheless, Gamzee nodded as he leaned back, legs stretching out awkwardly in front of him as upper limbs rested limp and lazy on the arm rests. "Sounds like a wicked plan brother," he grinned, though those indigo eyes latched onto the awkward movement, auditory ducts picking up on the fluctuation of tone, "Want me to all summon the feel-better workers?"

Hmm, yes or no? They were probably going to dose him up with so many fucking pain killers he'd pass right back out, but if he said no, the pain was just going to keep getting worse the more aware he got. Hm, nightmares, or pain? Fuck, was there a third option?

He didn't want to face those nightmares again, but fuck, at least no one else could see them. Everyone else could see when you were in physical pain this bad. He bit down a bit harder on his lower lip, barely feeling it in comparison to the growing pain everywhere else.

"...Yeah"

Gamzee pushed himself to a stand, and although the angle from which he had done it normal would have made him stumble or fall, he stayed perfectly still. Then with that same smile, turned towards the wall, pulling on the string in the socket to summon the nurse. There was brief static as the intercom came on.

_Yes?_

"Karkat's all up and in the living realm. Bro could use some nerve thumping relievers."

_Alright, we'll send a nurse in right away._

The Capricorn smiled before he turned back to Karkat. "Anything else you're in serious need? I'm like, a temporary motherfucking slave bro. All my time sweeps are gonna be ticking right here."

Karkat shook his head, just sighing. "the only request I have is don't let them fucking strip me any more than they have, I can feel that I still at least have pants on besides this shit ton of bandages, and I'd like to keep it that way" He stated simply, quite serious in this request because he knew, without a doubt, that hospitals loved stripping down their patients. Someone must have fucking redressed him or something because he was pretty sure he didn't get himself changed into hospital clothes, well minus the shirt.

Gamzee let out a genuine laugh at that, as he walked slow and steady back over to his chair, sitting down and slouching comfortably into it. "Don't worry bro, I've been making sure the medical individuals were schoolfed on their limits." Of course, he never verbally told them anything, today was the first time he talked after Karkat was stabilized. It was amazing really, what just a look and one's aura could tell people.

It wasn't too long before the nurse came in, interrupting the two's conversations and asking Karkat a few questions, reprimanding him often to be honest, especially when she was asking about his wounds, explaining to him how serious some of them were, but that he was expected to make a full recovery. She explained, holding a bag of clear liquid, that she was going to hook the pain medication up to the IV and it was probably going to make him sleepy the instant it started taking effect.

So she did, and spent ten minutes in the room, talking, though Karkat kinda started to slip out of whatever she was saying, merely staring at her mouth as her lips started to slow down, like things had gone in slow motion. And as things started to slow down, he noticed his sense of feeling going away, his chest and pretty much everything else slowly stopped hurting.

And then he slipped back into unconsciousness.

In and out, in and out. Awake and asleep. These were how the next two days passed with Karkat. Whenever the male was awake, Gamzee would wait to see if he showed any sign of pain, before calling the nurse in to give him some more of the numbing drug. At one point, Tavros came in to both visit Karkat (and at the Gamzee's request) bring him his IGrub. He didn't stay long, and they didn't talk too much or above a whisper, to avoid waking or disturbing the red-bloods rest. The small talk ranged from their favorite topic, music, to Tav commenting on his lack of face paint. After a while, the wheel-chair bound troll had to leave to go get ready for work, and only parted when Gamzee said he'd send him at least a text message later to update him on how the Cancer was doing. Apparently the Taurus was keeping some of the others informed on both Sollux and Karkat's condition.

The Capricorn kept his word, spending nearly all of his 'time sweeps' at Karkat's side, except whenever he needed to abscond to take care of his 'porcelain business'. But for the most part, his time was sent in that chair, music a muffled thumping in his auditory ducts, and a melting reality all around him.

Sometimes he'd let his mind wonder if Karkat was dreaming, having those horror-terrors when he slept like that. Hardly moving, drugged into a deep sleep. But then his own mind-terrors would assure him that all was well. There was some shit troll's just got used to... though again, Gamzee grew up with severe horror-terrors. Karkat had not. He had nightmares, but not some of the crazy shit that the Capricorn saw, or at least, he assumed so by what the Cancer had told them when they were kids. Of course, that had obviously changed. And it was things like that, ideas and thoughts, that Gamzee played with back and forth in his mind, while passing the slow ticking time.

Then, the fourth day came, and Karkat was cleared to return back home (or in this case their dorm). He was provided pain medication, which due to a past instance involving a certain attempted suicide, Gamzee was put in charge of. The Capricorn signed for it without issue, asking only how many he was allowed to take at max per day, before accepting the bottle of the little nerve numbing tablets. There was brief confusion in the highbloods eyes, at the Doctor's quick escape, wondering briefly why the medical man would be so ready to leave, before deciding her probably had an emergency to attend to or something. So with a shrug, he pocketed the bottle, and turned to Karkat with that steady smile. He was wearing his make-up again, Tavros had brought it with him when he had grabbed his IGrub the day before, and his eye were half-lowered in their comfortable state.

"Alright bro, you about ready to get some serious relocation away from this place of squeaky cleans and beeps?"

Karkat merely rolled his eyes, readjusting his hold on the uncomfortable piece of metal and rags that the doctor claimed was a crutch. "I hate hospitals" He stated simply, giving a very basic answer to the indigo blood's question. Most of his bruises and skin level injuries were healed by now, thanks to both superior troll biology and the recuperacoon. Man those things did fucking wonders and he would never understand why that cold, gross slime did the things it did for his species.

His ribs were still pretty messed up, though they had healed to the point that the doctors were no longer afraid they'd break from the smallest movements, and his leg was mangled as well. Though his thigh had healed and most of the skin had grown back (still some raw patches, just like his hand, but bandages and some special salve made from sopor slime were doing pretty good on that end); his ankle was still pretty fucked up. The muscles more so than the bone, though that didn't mean the bone wasn't a little messed up too. Thankfully all he had to do was keep weight off it and try to stretch it out a little each day if he could manage the pain enough to do so, and he was assured he'd be able to walk around on it fine within the week. And so long as he didn't stress it after that, he'd be able to walk and run and jump within the month as if nothing had ever happened.

It was a little irritating, waiting so long for these things to heal, but it was better than never being able to walk on it again. And at least they hadn't forced him into a wheelchair or anything like that.

"I don't think I can ride on your motorcycle like this" Nor did he want to, "how do you plan on getting me back to the dorms if I'm supposed to refrain from walking as much as possible?"

Gamzee paused at that, turning over that thought in his think pan for a moment. Because Karkat was right. Riding on motorcycle in the Cancer's current condition would be one hell of a bad idea. But how we're they going to... An idea popped into his mind, as he glanced down at the time on his phone. Perfect, Gamzee knew exactly how they were going to get Karkat back to the dorms. "Shit bro, I know the wickedest mode of transportation and relocation. We just gotta go lay down some hunts for the mechanical conductor. But to get some wild response to the whole feet movement issue I got the sweetest of solutions." The male stepped forward then so he was in front of Karkat with that same grin, "I'll just all up and give you an oinkbeast back ride."

Karkat stared very, very hard at Gamzee for a few moments, a frown clear across his face before he finally spoke. "I am not riding on your fucking back"

The Capricorn's smile simply grew at that, "I got some figuring going that you might say that. So I got two other doors open for you bro. If you're not situated with oinkbeast rides, I can just all up and carry you like one of those human males do their mates at that pink monkey ritual... margin or something. Or door number three, I play heave-ho and we do a replay of the morning we all up and did shopping times." Gamzee shoved his hands in his pocket at that, "You got your auditory ducts attuned to the Doc, you even got some verbal confirmation. Gotta keep foot movements to a minimum, and there's a bit a walk ahead to go find our mechanical conductor, and then get down to where transportation get's parked."

So yeah that was pretty much the conversation besides some minimal bitching and raging after that that led to Karkat with his legs wrapped near Gamzee's sides and his arms around the highblood's shoulders and neck.

This was so fucking embarrassing, but it had been determined that being carried like he had in the shopping trip a few days ago would probably hurt his ribs, and being carried bridal style was even more degrading than this was, if that was at all fucking possible. But fuck it, he was already dressed in hospital pajamas, covered in bandages, and had just spent the last two days tripping out on high quality narcotics, like his dignity could go down any further than it already had.

The Capricorn adjusted his hold, hands hooked under his bro's knees, because holding him the other way would have probably made his moirail enter into whole new levels of rage. So, he thought better of it, as he walked silently down the hall with that lazy smile. They were already up and in intensive care, so the location of the one who would be Karkat's driver wasn't too bad of a walk. Gamzee's indigo eyes traced over the room numbers, the name's of the rooms occupants on little paper slips beneath said digits. A right, and then a left, until the room was located.

Intensive care room 312, Svesta Maltreise.

Gamzee hesitated for a moment at the door, shifting his hold awkwardly. Silent... standing, before he made a small show of blinking, and glanced over his shoulder at Karkat, "Sorry about that bro, I think I all up and got lost in my pan for a minute. Honk," and he gave a muffled laugh, before leaning forward to compensate for Karkat's weight, as he rose up a hand to knock, and at a muffled 'come in', opened the door.

The first thing one would notice, was that the room was full of plants. Not flowers, but large pots of ferns, bamboo, small palms, things of the sort. They lined empty spaces of wall, the window-sill, and there were even a couple hanging from the ceiling. On further inspection, one would see they were all imitations. No doubt a way to keep within hotel regulations or something of the sort. The next thing one would notice, was a coon, similar to what Karkat had been in, with an innumerable amount of chords and connections coming from within.

"G-Zee?" the voice was of Jarren, who was sitting beside the coon, and immediately stood up as he realized who had entered.

For a few more heart beats, Gamzee hesitated, before he stepped in with that same lazy smile, eyes staying glued on to Jarren. As they stepped closer, one could see into the medical recuperacoon. Inside, a lovely troll girl lay. Her eyes were closed, an oxygen mask strapped onto her round face, but even then there was softness to her presence. Her hair fell straight, twisting and curling at it's ends when it reach just past her shoulders. Her horns, grew from the top of her head roughly 11 inches, then slightly back wards, forming small hooks that pointed towards the top of her head at the tips. They almost looked like antennae, if one were to compare her horns to that of an insect.

Jarren took a step forward, casting a brief nervous glance from Gamzee, to the girl in the coon, "What ar-" then he stopped as he finally seemed to notice a certain pair of feet, and the fact a certain someone was on the Capricorn's back. An awkward pause came from the circulatory troll, before, "Hey Crabbeh, finally able tuh be useful huh?"

Karkat didn't respond, not because he didn't have a comeback, oh, he had plenty, but because of the... sense of weight in the room. It couldn't really be contributed on any one thing, not the stale sense of the hospital room, not the bunches of plants, and not the girl laying unconscious in a recuperacoon like he had been not all that long ago. No, the sense of... something close to sadness almost? Came from everything in the room combined. He bit down on the inside of his cheek, letting his gaze wander around the room, from plant to plant to the she-troll to plant to plant.

"Yeah, my best bro was all up and cleared for release. But he can't get proper holdings and porportions on Miss Mirth." Gamzee spoke, still keeping indigo eyes trained on the other highblood, "Would you be in the mind to help a motherfucker out?"

Jarren hesitated, shoving his hands into his pants pocket an unreadable expression on his face as he seemed to be actually thinking about it. Strange, for normally he gave an answer right away. His gaze turned back to the female on the bed. Blinking silently as the machines around her beeped, and whirled, and hissed. Before he looked back to the other two, "Alright, whatevuh. He stinks up my seat wit his mutant blood stench tough, yer payin tuh have my truck fumuhgated." Gamzee smile twitched a fraction further before Jarren continued, "Ah'll meet ya down in t'e parking lot in uhbout five minutes." Gamzee gave a nod, before he turned and adjusting his hold on Karkat again, exited through the door, just as Jarren turned back to the coon, leaning forward with his hands resting on the edge of the modified troll bed.

The Capricorn gave a whistling sigh as they made it out of the room, and began to walk towards the elevators, "Shit, that was levels of motherfucking awkward." He chuckled somewhat, with little humor to his voice, the sound more on reflex than anything.

Karkat was still frowning by the time they left the room, biting down with those sharp teeth of his onto his bottom lip, letting a few moments of silence drift on, chasing the noise of Gamzee's laugh away, before he spoke.

"Who was that?"

Gamzee was silent at first, as they stepped through the too clean halls. Navigating towards the elevators, because really, taking the stairs would be an absolutely horrible idea. The Capricorn balanced on one foot, pressing the down arrow with his knee, before giving a small hop and regaining his balance. Still quiet, before, "Svesta," he responded simply, as the elevator doors binged open and they slipped inside, Gamzee performing the same hopping balancing act to hit the ground floor button, "She and Jarren had some serious friendliness going before she got nailed into undetermined unconsciousness."

The manner in which he answered was enough to tell Karkat that it was probably a sensitive issue not to be touched upon. So he didn't question any further than that, merely murmured a quiet 'oh' before letting it drop. Wow, it was uncomfortably awkward now.

The rest of the walk still held that silence, as Gamzee with still a Cancer on his back, walked through the hospital's main lobby and through the sliding doors. They weaved through the parking lot for a short amount of time, the autumn-turning-winter air biting whistling through the multitude of vehicles and other items. Before they found what they were looking for.

Jarren's truck, was a 2500 Dodge Ram, with dark violet paint, that faded into a black and white chess board pattern when it reached it's back. The windows were tinted so they were nearly solid black looking in, and it sported a lift kit, with some odd brand of mud tires. A black grill guard had been specially added, along with a black roll cage in the bed. Aside from that, ever bit of metal was a shining silver. "Bro calls her the Warbeast," Gamzee spoke, a genuine laugh coming from him then, as he knelt to allow Karkat to slide safely off his back.

"She is uh fuckin beast," snarled the familiar voice of Jarren, as he walked towards them with a defensive glare, "Ah was serious about tuh fumigation G-Zee."

Oh jesus fucking hell even his car stank of douchebag. Karkat literally squeezed his eyes shut, holding back that exact comment as Jarren appeared because, like it or not, this was his only real mode of transportation. He unwrapped one hand from around Gamzee's shoulders, pinching the bridge of his nose for a few seconds, before he reopened his eyes.

"Okay, I can get into the car just fine by myself, can you fucking put me down now?"

A long silence came from Gamzee before he let out a laugh, "Shit bro, I up and forgot you were getting clings on my back," Then he knelt down so that Karkat could slide off and get his footing easy enough.

Jarren in the mean time, simply gave a grunt, stepping up to his truck and unlocking the door, tugging it open with a light pop, and pressing the button to unlock the passenger side. The inside, had as much attention as the outside. Black leather racing seat in the front, with dark indigo stripes down the center, with the same styled of bench seat in the back. The dashaboard was stained white, and that black white chess board pattern could be found on the steering wheel and floor mats. The seat belts themselves were even white.

Karkat rolled his eyes in an irate manner, and then slid off Gamzee's back, touching down with his right foot first, gathering his balance about him, before gently setting his left foot down, barely putting any weight on it at all and feeling it sting just the slightest bit. He switched his crutch into his left hand, leaning on it and taking the weight off his foot as he managed this fucking thing to the side of the car (truck, whatever) and swung the passenger door open.

Again, he managed to prove he could do this by himself by twisting around, jabbing the crutch against the ground and using his remaining arm to hoist himself up into the seat, keeping off his left foot entirely and managing to get himself into the seat without any issues.

Goddammit the car stank of asshole almost as much as Jarren himself did.

Whenever Karkat got situated inside his truck, Jarren himself hopped in, pausing and leaning over the top of his door before he closed it. "Want me tuh wait for ya?"

"Nah brother," called Gamzee with that easy grin, "I'll be able to catch up like the tail of a demolition star."

"...right," Jarren stared after the Capricorn's retreating back, watching he jogged over to the other side of the parking lot to locate where his motorcycle was parked. Before he took his seat, pulling the door closed with him, and putting his key in the ignition, starting it up with a deep rumble. "Don't touch anyting," growled the male, as he put the truck into drive, and pulled out of his spot, the truck's engine all but thundering as he revved into the gas, and launched out of the parking lot.

Karkat just glared in response to Jarren, reaching out and grabbing the seat belt, clicking it into place because, well, he wasn't sure how good of a driver Jarren was, but his suspicion was that if Jarren needed guard rims, he probably crashed into things a lot. So yeah, safety first. "Just shut the hell up and get me to the dorms so I can get out of this fucking truck"

"Hey, you... " Jarren paused for a minute, before a snarl came across his lips as he flipped his blinker on and pulled up to a stop light, "Fuck it, ah don't feel like bitchin wit ya," he growled, baring his teeth at the traffic signal's red light, waiting for it to turn.

Karkat was more than happy to oblige and shut his own trap, letting the entire ride pass by in that uncomfortable silence because he wasn't really in the mood for talking either. Fuck it was only made even better when the ride to the dorms went relatively easily, and as soon as the fucking truck was parked, he unbuckled himself from the seat, and slid the door open, crutch out first, then good leg, then bad leg, easing himself out of the truck so he didn't end up hurting himself or something, and then shutting the door somewhat carelessly behind him.

Gamzee pulled up beside them only a few heart beats later. Half-way to the University, just as he said, he had caught up with them. Granted this was by weaving through heavy traffic, and at times slipping directly between cars, but the male seemed hardly fazed. If that still lazy smile and honk of hello was anything to go by, as he killed his motor and kicked Miss Mirth's stand down. Straightening up and slipping, off, he scanned over Karkat with a hardly noticeable glance, "Motherfucking wicked. Thanks bro," Gamzee spoke to Jarren as he walked around his truck, glaring at the Karkat with a snarl, before immediately going over his door, as if to make sure the male hadn't scratched anything.

"Alright Karkat, up and on again bro," Gamzee grinned, as he turned around to assume the piggy-back ride position once more. It was a bit of a walk from the parking lot to their dorms.


	69. Released from the Hospital

Oh fucking hell Gamzee was not even going to let him walk inside the damn building he had to be carried in too? He growled, and the look on his face said all to much he wanted to argue the fuck out of this, but ended up just stopping, the glare never leaving his face as he just rolled his eyes and got back up Gamzee's back. "Just hurry up so I can get fucking down again"

The Capricorn gave a laugh as he adjusted his hold, and began an odd sort of walking jog, before skipping to a stop and calling over his shoulder, "Jarren! Come on motherfucker, I gotta exchange words with you."

"What? Now? You can't text me er some shit?"

"Nope, come on bro," then without further explanation, Gamzee turned and continued the jog walk towards the dorms. Jarren, after cursing under his breath, ran to catch up, falling into that awkward pace alongside the other two male's. They walked in silence for all of a whole minute, before Jarren made a snide comment. Suffice it to say, the rest of the walk was a back-and forth of harsh retorts. When they arrived back at their dorm, Jarren opened the door for the two males, stepping off to the side to let them in as Gamzee knelt down without a word to let Karkat off his back.

"Need anything before I all up and swap verbal communications with the other highblooded motherfucker Karkat?"

Karkat slid off, landing on his right foot and steadying himself with the damn crutch, waving off Gamzee. "Never fucking carry me like that again, that's it" He stated simply, puffing up one cheek in irritation.

Gamzee gave a laugh, "Alright, bro. Be right fucking back, and with that, he draped his arm over Jarren's shoulders, and led him outside of their singular dorm turned double. Once outside of the doors, Gamzee removed his limb and the circulatory troll turned to face him with suspicious eyes. Not quite saying anything yet, waiting for the Capricorn to begin.

"I need you and Valus to get some magnifying glasses looking around for a couple of name callings. Just you and Valus, you feel me bro?"

Jarren's brows furrowed for a moment, "Alright, who?"

Gamzee's voice dropped to a murmur, "The other's involved in Karkat's carnival culling."

Silence from violet blooded highblood, face expressionless as he studied Gamzee's own lack of emotion as he said those words. So that's why he didn't want to text or give him a call. In the digital realm, things could be recorded, heard. In the digital realm, warnings could be given to targets. "Ahm guessin Crabbeh don't know about tis? An what makes ya tink V-Lus wasn't involved?"

"No, my diamond brother isn't in the know, he doesn't need to get schoolfed on it either. I already got my think pan around what he'd say, and if he passes verbal demand for me to get some stop signs on it... I would. So I'm going to motherfucking kill, all of those motherfuckers under radar." Gamzee all but whispered, as he slipped his hands into his pocket, leveling Jarren with a murderous gaze, "And Valus isn't dumb enough, to try any shit like that against me."

"... alright, I'll go talk tuh V-Lus. We'll contact ya in a couple uh days," Jarren grumbled, giving a small shrug of the shoulders, before he turn and skulked away, waving his hand in farewell when Gamzee called a 'see ya bro' to him over his shoulder. Then, the Capricorn re-entered the room.

"Hey best friend," he greeted, all lazy smile and half-lowered eyes, "My nutrition sack is getting serious rumblings. You in the want for edible substance?"

Karkat stared at the door until Gamzee came back in, a little bit of suspicion in that gaze, but not much, just the usual amount that was there, though it was most definitely off-put by his cheeks, still puffed up with air, and the line of his mouth set into a sort of pouting frown.

He sighed when Gamzee came back in, still frowning. "Since they wouldn't let me eat anything but mush at that hospital, anything is fi-" he began, but was interrupted by the noise of flesh against wood. A person, knocking at Gamzee's door.

The Capricorn actually jumped ever so slightly, as he glanced over his shoulder and just sort of... blinked at his dorm room entrance. Before, "Shit door, that was kinda rude, all up and interrupting Karkat when he was getting speaks going then," he laughed at that, before he stepped over to answer the one who caused his door 'to talk', claws curling around the handle and giving the door a gentle tug open. Before eyes flew wide in surprise, at the unexpected visitor on the other side.

The she-troll on the other side of the door's tyrian purple eyes sparked up. She wore similar clothing now compared to when she was younger, a multicolored skirt with a simple top and her tiara with her symbol plastered brightly on it, her blood color displayed on various jewels decorating her person. A bright smile across her face as she flung her arms out, and hugged the much larger male troll around the waist, letting out an excited 'Glub~!' as she did so, her long waves of black hair, dried out now from her time in the sea, where she usually was, curling behind her like a mane.

"Gamzee! It's been so long since I've seen you~!" Feferi cried out, her face displaying all of her excitement openly.

After the initial shock passed and the Capricorn actually registered why the sea dwellers appearance looked so familiar, a wicked grin spread as he returned her embrace with one of his own giving her a tight squeeze, a bubbling honk coming from coming from his throat as he did so, "Hey fellow sis of future rulings! Man, my see holes are in some serious disbelief, all sorts of ticks and tocks have passed!" Gamzee laughed, before he gave a step back, and tilted his head so far to the side, it almost looked as though he might make himself fall over, "Shit, look at your still fancy as all hell get-up. Look out Messiah's, Miss Empress to be is working the beauty songs all nice and proper."

Feferi gave a girlish giggle in response, "Thanks~! I've been pretty busy the last few sweeps, so I reel so bad for never coming to visit!" Truth be told, this was not a casual visit.

Her matesprit ending up in the hospital, in a coma, and she was not informed? The very thought was idiocy, she knew the instant he was found, and came as soon as she could. She had arrived the second day he was there, and refused to leave his side until only now. Even then, she planned to stay in this general area and keep an eye on him until he was fully recovered, which she was absolutely positive would happen.

She had also found out that another troll she knew had been involved in seemingly the same incident, but she hadn't gotten up the strength to go visit him, not until his room was already empty anyway! Honestly it was just her luck to finally go visit Karkat and find out that he had just left! Thank cod she was able to get here so quickly, and leave a bunch of body guards behind to guard Sollux until he woke up.

"I just got back from the hospital, I heard about what happened to Sollux and Karfish, and I wanted to check on him now to make shore he's okay and everything?"

Gamzee's grin dimmed slightly as Feferi brought back up the incident, but it didn't disappear. "That's some wicked kindness you got bubbling sis, but yeah, Karkat's laying down the law on healing practices. Feel free to navigate into the domain," and at that he stepped back, inviting the Pisces in with a wave of the hand, giving a small skip jump to avoid a miniature cluster of horns that had gathered on his floor, as he returned to Karkat, "Hey bro, we got a familiar troll swinging by sweet greetings. You got any memory for sis Feferi?" he asked, as he stepped to one side so that the two could get a full view of the other.

Karkat leaned over slightly from where he had taken his seat on the couch, blinking as he stared at Feferi for a few moments when she stepped in, all smiles and excitement, and was about to say something, but stopped when she suddenly threw herself at him, laughing and wrapping her arms around his shoulders, pretty much smothering him in a hug.

"Karfish! It's been so long and I haven't seen you or Sollux in forever and I'm sorry about what happened!" She exclaimed, gushing out as he tried to push her off him.

"L-let go! Jesus!" He responded, finally managing to pry himself out of her grip before turning to look at Gamzee. "Yeah, she's Sollux's matesprit" He stated simply, frowning a bit as he looked back at her.

Gamzee grinned as he slipped his hands in his pant's pockets and leaned back, taking in the display of such affection. Man, this disease known as friendship was sure such a beautiful and wonderful thing at times. "I was about to get some acknowledgments going with edible devices. Wanna get some chilling going my finned sister, and indulge your protein chute with us?"

"I wouldn't mind at all~! It's been days since I've eaten anything I think. There's just always so much to do" Feferi chimed, and then her eyes lit up, and she turned back to Karkat. "Still destroy everything you try to cook?" She asked, her voice lightly joking.

"Beyond salvation" Karkat replied simply, a bit of an irate glint appearing in those bright red eyes of his.

A determined look appeared on her face. "Knew it! After we're done eating, you should try it again, I mean, all it takes is practice, practice, practice! I can even help you make a cake or something." The sea-troll offered, a begging smile crossing her face as she stared at him, eyes getting bigger and bigger.

Gamzee gave a laugh at that, as he turned towards the hole separating the two's dorm rooms, humming as he did so, "Any audible requests? Cuz shit, I think I could munch on motherfucking anything." Honestly, he probably really could, but he just wanted to check and see if Feferi or Karkat were craving anything in particular. Cuz hell, if he didn't know how to make something, he did a pretty sweet time of making it up as he went.

"I kinda want hamburgers"

Karkat did not even hesitate in his request. Fuck, after eating that hospital mush for four days in a row (and throwing it up a lot thanks to the pain medications, it didn't taste any different coming back up than it did going in), he just wanted... meat, steak, hamburgers, fuck it didn't matter.

The Capricorn's fanged smile grew as he slipped through the hole in their wall, returning a few heart beats later, with some packaged meat from Karkat's freezer. Seeing as, yeah, Gamzee's fridge was still kind of broken, and he really should get it fixed or replaced. Then, humming a song to himself, he strode back through the smallish main room, and into his nutrition block. A pause came from there, as Gamzee turned on the water, waiting until it was boiling hot, before plugging the drain with the little rubber stopper, and slipping the meat into the gradually rising water. Quick de-thaw activated, he poked his back out through the doorway with a honk, and, "Sandwiched burgers alright for you sis? Or do you want a different manifestation of edible creation?"

Feferi just smiled back, "Nop-e~!" She chimed. "I'm perfectly fine eating some burgers!"

"Wicked," and the he disappeared back into his kitchen, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt as he did so, and pushing them safely above his elbows. Man, he was going to make these burgers so happy to be concocted with flavors of mas intensity, that they'd be weeping for joy at the taste that would be rolling off of them. Turning off the water to let the meat do it's defrosting thing, Gamzee shuffled through his shelves until he found a skillet, spatula and some butter pan spray. Didn't want the tasty meat treats getting all stuck to the pan. While he worked, he sang to himself, though it was difficult to figure out what he was singing, as he mixed and mashed multiple songs together. Flowing from lyric to lyric as if that was how it was written, before next hunting down spices and flavorings for meat times.

Once everything was set up, the Capricorn pulled the meat from the sink, having to refill it with fresh hot water a few times, but by the end, said edible substance was thawed. Gamzee then began to separate the meat, first mixing the spices and herbs for Karkats, something with a sharp flavor, but not overwhelming. Then to Feferi's patties, a bit of sea salt seasoning and couple of other ocean lent spices. With his own food, he mixed an unhealthy dose of sopor slime, the meat becoming stained green by the substances as it all but melded together. The Capricorn had gone days without the sopor, and to be honest, he was starting to feel the effects. This forced haze he had been keeping over his mind was crumbling, and if it wasn't for the fact he had been in the Cancer's present the entire time of his 'clean' streak. He would have probably already snapped. Karkat's and Feferi's food were cooked first, the sizzling smell of meat and spices overflowing through the open doorway, before the finished burgers were slipped on their bread buns.

He was able to leave his own sopor-meat combo on the pan, as he walked back to the door way to poke his head out. It took a little longer for sopor to cook. Being a slime substance and all. Gamzee was visually more relaxed as he poked his head out of the kitchen once more, just the smell of the slime was helping to put him at ease. "Heeeeeey, brother and sister. Want some squared cheese made substance on you're burgerwich?"

Feferi had been talking animatedly the entire time Gamzee was in the kitchen, her mouth not stopping once, and that was just like Karkat remembered her from the few times he had seen her. Anything and everything was up for 'glubbing' as she called it. Honestly, it was weird. So Karkat was thankful when Gamzee poked his head back in, asking if they wanted cheese on the burgers, Karkat shook his head, but Feferi seemed to consider it for a moment or two.

"Sure~! I wouldn't mind trying it with cheese" She responded, giving the indigo blooded troll a big smile.

Gamzee gave a grin, vanishing to flip his slow cooking sopor burgers to the other side, before jogging out of his nutrition block, through the main room. Then, giving a jump through the hole, vanished once more. He grabbed two sliced of cheese from Karkat's refrigeration device, before reappearing and vanishing back into his own nutrition block again. There was the sound of brief sizzling, running water, and clattering of dishes. Before Gamzee appeared again, first with two glasses of water, one for Karkat, the other for Feferi. Then he dissapeared, and reappeared with two bottles of faygo. Before vanishing once more, and on the third time, he appeared with the food. Two burgers per troll, Gamzee was performing a sort of balancing act with the plates, balancing all three saucers on one arm, and using his free hand to supply first Karkat's burgers, then Fef's. "Honk," he hopped onto the couch with a laugh, before taking a massive bite of his sopor burger, offering a certain Pisces one of his faygos with and awkward grin. Seeing as there was currently food shoved in his mouth.

Feferi accepted the drink, giving a wide grin back as she popped it open and took a quick drink, before downing a bite of the burger, seeming surprised for a moment as she chewed, and then swallowed before she spoke. "Wow Gamzee, this is really good! I never knew you were good at cooking"

Karkat took his own burger, not even hesitating in taking a few bites and swallowing the pieces nearly whole, not even bothering to chew them completely. It started getting hard to swallow, so he downed some water, wetting it down to let the chunk slide down his throat, nearly choking, and decided to slow the fuck down and actually chew the food. "Have you seen the kind of messes he leaves behind?"

The Capricorn gave a laugh at that as he took another bite of his own burger, almost talking with food in his mouth. Before he realized no words were coming out, grin widening as he chewed until the bites were mushed and down-sized enough to swallow. "Thanks sis. Yeah, I can lay down some tongue tinglers, make shit sneak up on you. Like a grade-A laughsassin, except with chewables... but man, bro's right. Sometimes mixing up such blessings can leave such trails. It's like, when I'm all up and done... how'd this shit even get there. You know?" and then he downed a long drink of faygo, before looking back to Feferi. "Baking is a wicked bitchtits of a time, but after a while, I wanted to get some handles in all edible arts. Make the heat come right out of the cooking apparatus." Then he took another mouthful of his food, officially finishing one of the two still hot burgers, in three bites.

"Well I think if you wanted to be a chef, no one could stop you! This is pretty amazing food" She encouraged, giving a firm nod. "Even if you do make a pretty big mess" She added, giving a bit of a chuckle, and then her eyes lit up as she finished her own burger. "Oh, I know~" She chimed, clapping her hands together, "Me and Karkat can make you some desert, like cupcakes or something. In return for the hamburgers!"

Gamzee's smile twitched downwards just slightly at that, as he silent brushed off her comment about him being a chef. Man, if he had it his way, he could all up and rock a part time chef, part time music artist, and then just part time artist. Be like a... Rapping Art Chef. Fuck yeah. Maybe when he wasn't going Dark Carnival Lord on everyone, if he became himself, he could all up and do shit like that in his spare time. Oh look, everything was still screaming and Fef's face was starting to leak rainbow colored blood with her smile. Shit, maybe he'd all up and need to eat more sopor than usual to get his think pan back in a pretty place. "Man sis, that would be the wickedest of all gifts. If Karkat ain't all up and in the mind, since he just got relocation from medical situations."

"Better than just sitting around here doing nothing" Karkat answered simply, shrugging in response to the two highbloods. Truth be told, all he could really think about right now was how fucking grateful he was they'd given him a dose of pain killers before he left the hospital.

Feferi jumped up then, hands on her hips and her stance proud, "Alright then. Hurry up Karfish, I'm gonna try to teach you how to cook!" She proclaimed, and then bounded off into the kitchen, talking animatedly as Karkat just stared at her from the couch, peering through the doorway. Finally he sighed, rolling his eyes as he pushed himself up off the cushions, balancing on one foot as he grabbed the crutch, and used it to hobble on over towards the kitchen.

Feferi had already gotten out a ton of ingredients by the time he made it in there and sat himself down near the table.

On the couch, Gamzee simply got comfortable after finishing off the last of his slime burgers. With a light hum, he set the plate on the floor for later subtraction and laid out over the seat's cushion, stretching his arms far over his head and back arching with audible pops. Okay, he could lay down with some serious relaxing times. The thought briefly crossed his mind to get some sneaks going and eat some more sopor, but that he kind of situated as a bad idea. Shit, he didn't want to be all flipping his shit at the beginnings of a sopor overdose, just after Karkat got freedoms from the hospital wards. So instead, he kept up his chill laying on the couch and staring up at the ceiling. Hell, he could listen to the world in one spot while Fef and Karkat got their bake on.

For the next few minutes, all that could be heard from the kitchen was the casual complaining, and the clinking of bowls and spoons and other such things used regularly in cooking. Karkat was, of course, doing the complaining, the rude comment placed here and there about how stupid this was since he was really only having things shoved into his hands to be mixed.

Apparently Feferi had decided they were going to make cupcakes, and just because, she was having him make the frosting, just kinda nudging him in the right direction and even managing to make the damn frosting purple (he wasn't sure what she put in it to make it do that, unless Gamzee had food coloring around here somewhere). And of course, it had to be close to indigo because they were 'making this for Gamzee since he cooked those awesome hamburgers~!'.

Ugh.

He was currently doing not much at all, sitting at the table with the bowl of frosting and half mixed ingredients in his lap, mashing it all together with a wooden spoon.

Meanwhile, after having sat and officially had a conversation with the ceiling about how crazy it was that if it fell down it would be considered a floor, Gamzee felt his attention straying. Man, he was kind of curious as to how his sea dwelling sister and land dwelling brother were going about making them. It took him a moment to get up, because for a split second, he had forgotten that he was laying down. Until he was reminded with a gentle nudge from good old gravity, when he rolled to one side and onto the floor. He fell on a horn, jumping and immediately rolling to his feet with a small stumble, lips pulled back in contained laughter. Damn, that had been kind of fun.

But oh right, he had to kitchen to investigate. So with careful foot navigation to avoid stepping on anymore of his sneaky noise makers, he peaked into the nutrition block. "How goes it my ill brethren? Finding your path through my nutri-block alright?"

Karkat looked over at Gamzee as he stumbled in, asking how things were going, and shrugged. "I guess it's going fine" He stated simply, and looked over at Feferi, who was mixing something else, probably the muffin batter, with another wooden spoon.

She turned, smiling at Gamzee and nodding vigorously. "Yup~! Everything's going just fine, you sure had a lot of supplies on hand. I'll make sure to pay for them before I leave, if you don't mind" She intoned, and then looked over to Karkat, standing on her tippy toes to see how the frosting was coming along. "Oh, Karkat, can you try some of that when you're done mixing it and see if it tastes okay?" She asked, and then went right back to mixing the bowl in her own hands.

Karkat rolled his eyes, letting the spoon rest for a second before tapping it against the side of the bowl, and then running his index finger along the rim of it, wiping off some of the indigo colored mixture off the spoon. He slipped the frosting coated finger into his mouth, sucking on it a little to get all of the frosting off it, and then sliding it back out and wiping the saliva left behind on his pants before turning back to the female sea-troll.

"Tastes fine to me"

Oh.

Wow.

Gamzee had not been expecting that.

Inidigo eyes just sort of blinked at Karkat for a moment, his mind slowly processing what had just happened. It seemed so simple, so minuscule, but his think pan seemed to be registering it on a whole other level. He hadn't even realized he had traced every movement that led to Karkat putting an indigo covered finger in his mouth and licking it clean, and for some reason that wasn't known to him, the slow removal of said appendage was incredibly... interesting. Was it removed slowly? Hell, he couldn't really be sure. A strange feeling tugged at the sopor haze.

"Uh... " well, that had been incredibly coherent sentence. Yep, and now he was just sort of staring at the Cancer. No big deal.

Karkat felt like he was being stared at and that was kinda weird. Red eyes flickered over to Gamzee, who was just fucking staring at him with this weird look on his face. Instantly a frown crossed his lips, and he raised both of his hands up, clapping them together. "Idiot, you realize it's kinda fucking creepy when you randomly zone out like that right?" He demanded, seeming just the slightest bit irritated.

Feferi turned to face the two, giving a smile in their direction as she began to dip the batter down into little muffin cups, placing them with care into a pan, and then slipping them into the stove, setting the timer (it was already preheated and set there) and then shutting it again. "It'll only take about ten to twenty minutes for them to get ready, then we can add the frosting~!"

The clap didn't necessarily make him jump, but it did startle whatever thought process that had caused Gamzee's brain to have a momentary shut down. His head gave just the slightest tilt to the side, before one could quite literally see the focus coming back into them. About five heart beats later, and the land dwelling high blood was able to register all the words that had floated around. He gave out a small laugh as he straightened, "Sorry bro, the miracle treats just up and... fuck with my mind sometimes, I guess." before he glanced to Feferi, "And sweet, can't wait for my tasters to get some sampling going. What should we all get to doing while waiting for stumbling times to pass?"

"Well, I don't mind just glubbing and seaing what you two have been up to the last few sweeps. I'm kinda surprised you ended up in the same college!" Feferi started, initiating conversation as best she could.

Gamzee gave a genuine smile at that, "Yeah sis. Shit, I think that's one of the biggest miracles I've up and witnessed so far. Cuz Karkat and I probably wouldn't have all up and met again if it weren't for such wicked blessings," he looked to the Cancer then at that, lazy eyes and grin in place, before he glanced back to Feferi, "It's even more a gift from the Messiahs that we got positioned in neighborly locations. The Vast Honk has been laying down sweet rhythms all over this navigational location."

"Sounds like one of you guys has a guardian angel giving you all sorts of luck!"

Karkat looked up at that statement, first just staring at Feferi, and then towards some of the bandages on his arms, and then towards Gamzee, then back to Feferi. "I sincerely doubt that" He stated in a very, very bland tone, eyes narrowing somewhat irately.

Feferi just smiled, waving it off. "You're still alive aren't you? Through whatever happened, I mean. I mean, yeah, you're hurt and it's going to take some time to heal, but you WILL heal all of it, it's the small things you gotta be grateful for Karfish!"

"Man, I think I've got my hear going around something like that before," Gamzee smirked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Actually, he had gotten his 'hear' going around something like that before, because he was the one that said it. Or rather, something similar to it. It seemed like ages ago, on the field of the infamous paint war, that such words were uttered. "But Sis is right, you gotta get some thanks for the small blessings. Like that you still got diseased friendships, and your best motherfucker here for ya."

Okay he had to stop this before the talk turned to some insane bullshit like miracles or something retarded like that. "How about you Feferi? What kind of stupid shit have you been up to? Aside from the whole... planning to ascend to the throne thing" Karkat asked, attempting to derail the subject onto Feferi now.

Feferi smiled a bit nervously. "Oh, it's been all kinds of glubbing busy lately. I'm just lucky I have Aradia around to help me, and Eridan as well. They're some of the best friends anyone could ask for!"

"Damn, I haven't gotten my affirmation going with our other fishy motherfucker yet. How is the hipster of ocean fortification? He still got some confusion going with all of his blacks and reds?" Gamzee could get behind some of these subject changes, didn't want to make anyone feel too awkward after all. Shit, since they all up and just got back from the hospital, now was the time for chilling and conversation. Slamming revelations and reconnection and- oh shit what was that? At that Gamzee's was staring into his main room, real quiet like, before he side-stepped and paused. Still staring, and then he was gone, disappearing into his living room/bedroom combo. The next sound one could be aware of, was the sound of numerous horns being honked at once. As if someone had jumped into a giant pile of them.

... which was pretty much exactly what happened.

"Eridan? Oh he's a lot more mature than when we were all youn-" Feferi began, but stopped as Gamzee suddenly stopped and stared into the other room, seeming focused on something. She blinked, leaning over to try and see what it was, but saw nothing, even when he got up and suddenly vanished into the other room.

Both her and Karkat jumped when the sudden noise of honking filled the air, and Karkat swore viciously.

"What the hell are you doing in there?" Karkat demanded, letting a few other random insults about Gamzee's intelligence and attention span fly out. He moved to get up to his feet, and winced, realizing he kinda forgot about the cast dammit, and had to sit back down, grumbling angrily to himself as he tried to move around in the chair to peer out into the main room. Feferi just smiled, walking past Karkat and ruffling up his already messy hair as she did so.

"Gamzee, water you doing?"

From within the horn pile, Gamzee's head popped out, there was a horn in his mouth and he gave it a few honks by biting down, this goofy as all hell smile on his face. But hey, at least he looked happy enough. Then he simply opened his mouth and let the horn fall back into the pile with it's brethren, "Man sis, a little motherfucking hop beast just all and jumped from the wall and was singing some sweet ass little slams. I thought, shit, it's okay if the little fucker's spine is all stickin' out of it's back, it must be going some real dope place. So I was all, way down in surprise when the little hopper dove into my horn pile. Figured I could give the little bro some wisharmzical company, right? But damn, now I'm kind of bummed cuz I don't know where that wicked little music beast went."

"I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF RIDICULOUS JUGGALO NOISE SEWAGE THAT WAS"

Feferi chose to ignore Karkat's little rant from the kitchen, and just tilted her head curiously. "But there wasn't anyone there! At least, no one that I saw" She responded, looking genuinely confused on the matter before she swiftly decided that Gamzee must have been just seeing things. So she just smiled, letting him enjoy his little hallucination for a few minutes, before more yelling came from the kitchen.

"THE FUCKING MUFFINS ARE DONE, IF EITHER OF YOU EVEN CARE OUT THERE ANYMORE"


	70. Cupcakes and Painkillers

Gamzee was in the middle of mimicking Feferi's confused expression, because hell, he was sure he had seen a rabbit with crazy looking bones sticking out of it's body and singing. But man, now that he thought about, he guessed that kind of shit wasn't part of reality. He laughed, before with a landslide he climbed out of the horn pile. "S'all good Sis, I see crazy shit like that a lot," of course, most of the stuff was a little more... demented than that. All in good fun. "Sometimes reality and fantasy like to swing sides... oh man those mini baked siblings smell miraculous," and then he smiled at Fef, and returned to the kitchen all casual as if he hadn't just been hallucinating. But then again, stuff like that was normal for Gamzee, "You doing good on the hurt thumpers bro?" he spoke, as soon as Karkat was back into view.

Feferi rolled her eyes in a somewhat casual manner. It didn't bother her or weird her out that he saw things like that, she knew it was normal for him, sometimes she saw things most people would consider scary too, but then again, that was probably just due to her lusus.

"Those muffins are going to burn if you just stand there" Karkat responded, avoiding the question since he was just going to lie anyway and say yeah, he was doing fine. Hahahaha he wished that were true. His ribs were starting to ache and it sent a small spasm of pain up and down his midsection each time he took a breath. His foot was feeling pretty sore too, not in pain, just sore.

"Oh fuck, we don't want all that to happen. Hold on little motherfuckers, Gamzee's gonna get ya out before you start rolling in crispy crunchy land," he gave a sort of hop over to the oven, nearly reaching for the door to pull out the muffins by hand. Before, oh right, shit's hot and can burn his hands. Another laugh came from his lips before he shuffled around for his oven mits, slipping on the spotted things, before opening said oven and pulling out the swollen treats. "Man best friend and sis, you motherfuckers did a wicked job. Look at all these fat little sweet breaded siblings," that smile grew, as he set the muffin pan on the top of the oven's burners to cool, turning off the appliance as he did so and closing the door.

Karkat rolled his eyes this time, the frown never leaving his face, eyes half closed and looking very bored and only somewhat irate. This idiot. How the fuck had he not covered himself in burn marks if he almost did that kind of stupid thing all the time? Karkat had been halfway out of his fucking seat and ready to slap the idiot's hand away from the hot metal before Gamzee seemed to realize it himself and stopped, and also Karkat felt a shooting pain from his ankle all the way up his leg and then seeping up the back of his spine, making him go a bit rigid and stiff as he slowly, silently sat himself back down before it was noticed, biting down on his tongue hard while trying to keep a straight face. Holy hell fuck that hurt.

Thank god Feferi came in and started talking because if Karkat was forced to open his mouth it was just going to be a long line of swearing.

"Thanks~! I'm not that much of a cook, but Sollux was trying to teach me some basic stuff before he came here. At least this proves it didn't go to waste!" There was just the barest glint of worry in her eyes, before it was masked expertly by that smiling face. Sollux... she wondered when he'd wake up, cod she hoped it'd be soon.

Gamzee fell silent for only a brief moment, before he suddenly reached over, dipped his finger into the edge of the indigo icing and without further warning, leaned over to brush that same appendage across the tip of Fef's nose. "No worries sis, let the vast honk spread it's blessings. Shit always gets better, like a fucking law of the universe, you feel me?" he looked at Karkat then, giving his biggest grin yet, before turning back to the cupcakes. "So my wicked friends, who's going to lay our siblings here with serious icing?"

Feferi blinked a little, wide, purple toned eyes glancing down all cross-eyed at the icing on her nose, before she laughed as she wiped it off. It was pretty infectious, his good mood.

"I don't mind, at least I'm not just sitting here being fucking useless then" Karkat called out once he managed to get control over the screaming pain that finally stopped running up and down his whole body from his leg. Besides, He was pretty sure that Gamzee was too fucking sopor'ed up to be able to handle a knife properly if he almost forgot to wear oven mits. And Feferi had pretty much made them (she could claim he helped all she wanted but he had just kinda sat there and watched for the most part) so since he was supposed to help make them he guessed he could handle this task. Besides, he was good with blades, he could get those damn things iced in no time.

"Just hand me the stupid muffins and the icing"

"You got it best friend," and without further ado, he handed the Cancer both items, before stepping back with that same grin. Then he simply just stood there, blinking for a moment, before, "... have you guys ever just... like wondered about air? It's all motherfucking there, you know? But we can't get no see on it, my pan just can't get comfortably wrapped around how crazy that is. Cuz man, that fucker could be planning an attack and we'd never get our notice about it... or maybe it's getting some serious dances going and we're all late to the shit-tastic party." Maybe Gamzee had put a little too much sopor in his burgers.

"You drugged yourself brainless" Karkat pointed out simply, ignoring the taller male as he swiped a butter knife from nearby (one of the things used to cook originally) and dipped it into the frosting, swiping up a bunch and quickly spreading it evenly over a few of the cupcakes, quickly getting some more and finishing the job with relative ease in less than a minute. He dropped the knife into the bowl, pushing it off to the side as he shoved the cupcakes forward again, not even having to have pulled them out out the tin, or even to have touched it. Behold, what practicing daily with blades in your younger years can do and how fucking steady it can make your hands.

Surprisingly he had even gotten an even amount of frosting on each cupcake. He felt kinda proud, but then quickly dismissed the feeling because it was rather stupid to be proud of something so fucking easy. "There. All fucking nice and neat"

"Nice job! That was pretty fast" Feferi pointed out absentmindedly, blinking as she poked at one of the cupcakes, testing them to see how hot they were. Still a bit too warm to eat, but they'd cool pretty fast. She glanced over to the bowl of frosting, there was still a bit in there, She wondered what they were going to do with the extra when she caught karkat staring at it and remembered. Oh yeah, when they were younger, he had this massive sweet tooth, she wondered if he still did, and smiled gently. "You can have the rest of the frosting if you want Karfish!"

He grabbed the bowl so fast you almost wouldn't have seen it.

Gamzee smiled at his bro's eagerness. Man, he could never blame him for having such love for sweet treats, they could make one's tongue get some serious tinglings going. His head gave a tilt as Feferi examined the baked treats, apparently deeming them still too warm to eat. Apparently the Capricorn disagreed, as he slipped his claws around one and plucked it out. Then without further fanfare, gave it a toss and caught it in his mouth, before sucking it all in with an audible slurp and broad grin. Chewing through the mouthful and not seeming to mind the heat licking his numbed tongue. He got icing on his lips, though this was quickly taken care of as he swallowed and licked it clean. The chalky taste of his grease paint mixing with the smooth icing. "Juicy delish bro and sis," he rumbled, reaching for a second one, the rich taste of the little treat starting to soak into his buds.

Feferi beamed proudly, though still refrained from taking one just yet, Gamzee may have a digestive system of iron that was numbed by sopor, but she did not, so she still had to wait just a few more minutes for them to cool.

Karkat, meanwhile, took the dull butter knife and swiped it along the inside of the bowl, covering it in frosting. Feferi's guess was right on the marker, he was still a fucking sugar addict when it was put in front of him and he really couldn't help it. Really sugar should be at fault for being so fucking tasty. He shoved the knife into his mouth, moving it off to the side so he could talk around the dull metal at least somewhat, not really afraid that it was going to cut him or anything. Honestly a spoon had a better chance at wounding him than this fucking knife did. "Gawzee tose are still too hawt to eat" He spat out, his voice a little bit addled up thanks to the knife.

Indigo eyes flickered upward, a pause coming from the male as he gave a few blinks at the butter knife shoved in the males speak hole. Resisting to urge to laugh at Karkat's garbled words, "Alright best friend, I'll get some motherfucking patience laid all over the place," and at that, he crossed his ankles, bent his knees, and plopped down on the floor right where he had been standing. Cross-legged and apparently comfortable. "So Sis, how's your ivory guardian doing? Still getting deep sea wanderings?"

"Eridan? Well, he's matured a lot these last few sweeps!" She answered brightly, assuming that by 'ivory guardian' he had meant her palemate. Yeah, He could still be a bit whiny and needy here and there, but not nearly as much as when they were younger, he had learned a lot, and was filling out mentally pretty well into his adult role. "We're still moirails, though I'm trying to help him find a matesprit, we're having a bit of trouble in that area! But at least he has a kismeisis already sorted out!"

"Nah sis, not our fishy b- woah, rewind," Gamzee blinked up at the Empress-to-be, thoughts momentarily derailed. He had actually been asking about her lusus, but the fact that Eridan had actually been able to get situated in another Calignous relationship, was enough to distract the highblood, "Brother's got himself situated with black wanderings?"

Feferi nodded proudly, almost like a human mother proclaiming with pride that her child was starting to grow up. "Yup~! Honestly, I'm a bit surprised to who it ended up with. I always thought his hate with Sollux was based more on jealousy than real hate... but thank god I didn't need to be pulled out of my quadrant to auspice between them!"

"Fuck, really? Man, I need to slam down some congratulatory remarks to our brothers, and share sweet relief that you still get your red colored affections all nice and motherfucking neat." Gamzee hands fell limp in his lap as he looked up at Feferi with his best 'congratu-fucking-lations' smile. "Shit, I hope I can all up and get in contact with our hip sea-brother soon."

"I'm sure that once Sollux is out of the hospital, he'll probably come to vis-" She began, but was interrupted by a rather confused red blood in the room.

"Wait, wait, wait. I thought Gamzee and Sollux were Kismeisis?"

Woah, what?

Wide indigo eyes immediately directed their attention back to his moirail, "Woah... what? Hold on bro, what would get your think pan concluding me and bipolar bro were having black relations?"

Karkat frowned. "Well, that one time, the first night I accidently fell asleep in your room, I woke up and you were standing there naked with Sollux, and then there was that incident where he threw your refrigerator through the wall" He pointed out, expression slowly churning back into confusion. At least, that was the impression he had gotten from all that. Not to mention Sollux didn't really seem to like being around Gamzee all that much, he tended to skip lunch when Gamzee was eating with them. Or at least, that was what it seemed like.

Oh fuck, he should have waited until afterwards to say that, Feferi was frowning now, staring very intently at Gamzee.

The Capricorn just stared...

And stared...

There was a small tremor, a flicker of emotion.

Then he began to bust out laughing. His arms wrapped around his abdomen as he nearly doubled-over, Gamzee's entire chest shaking with the movement, as he fought with his old friend mirth for something called oxygen. Oh man, Karkat... thought him and Sollux... The main reason he was so amused, was that for a moment he thought some other psychological nonsense was going on and that maybe there was something his bipolar brother wasn't telling him. Thank the Vast Honk. As his laughter died down, Gamzee peered up at the Cancer, smile pulled to his fullest, "Nah bro, that's some seriously misunderstood misunderstanding. That night, Sollux all got me in the wake, and I still slept getting freedom from fabric oppression then."

Karkat snarled. "It's not that fucking funny okay, you make it way too goddamn easy to mistake things with what you do around people" He growled, eyes narrowing somewhat irately before he twisted around in his seat, refusing to wince, and pried one of the muffins from the tray, holding it in his hand for a few moments, fingers closed around that breaded warmth, testing to see if it was too hot to eat or not. "I guess they've cooled down enough" He stated rapidly, attempting to change the subject as he shoved the cupcake towards his mouth, taking a massive bite almost angrily.

That smile stayed, as Gamzee fully straightened back up, "Sorry bro, I guess I don't all up and get the think about things like that. Or the motherfucking interpretations," he was about to say more, eyes watching curiously as Karkat took an angry bite out of his cupcake, before he felt another gaze on him still. Glancing up, he met Fef's frown with a blink, before a more awkward smile formed over his lips, "I'm situated in serious sis. Sollux and I don't got no quadrant happenings occurring."

Feferi continued to stare somewhat suspiciously for a few seconds more, before letting out a relieved sigh. It kinda made sense. Sollux could sense where people were, but he couldn't tell what they looked like, or what they were wearing. hell he could be in a big room full of naked trolls and not have any clue. Though she was a bit concerned about the fridge thing. She decided she would ask Sollux that when he woke up... if he woke up. No, she had to stay positive! Her frown twisted upside down into a smile then, albeit a somewhat nervous one.

Karkat, meanwhile, had gone back to the cupcake. Fuck this thing tasted nasty with the frosting and the actual cupcake part together. But again, this was probably just due to his weird eating habits developed when he was with Terezi. Dammit she had left her fucking mark on his appetite for the rest of his life. Hm, maybe he could stand it if he just ate the frosting and cupcake separately? Again, he raised the cupcake up to his mouth, but instead of taking a big chunk of both again, he just licked the frosting off the top.

Small relief fluttered through Gamzee when Feferi seemed to accept his answer. Because man, he didn't want a friend to be all up and mad at him or nothing. Okay, now that that was taken care of, the Capricorn had turned back to the cupcakes to take one since they had been deemed okay to eat... before he found his mind kind of just... stop again. Blinking as he watched a somewhat red tinted appendage, dipped against the indigo frosting, dragging over the top of a cupcake to gather more of that icing around that particular muscle, before retreating back into Karkat's mouth, bringing the sweet topping with it. Gamzee blinked. Woah... okay, that had been weird.

"Karfish you can't just eat the toppping! You have to eat the whole cupcake!" Feferi cried out, having followed Gamzee's gaze towards Karkat.

Karkat jumped a bit, not realizing that the two were looking at him, cheeks flushing red ever so slightly out of annoyance more than embarrassment. "I'm going to eat the whole thing I just hate how the frosting and bread taste together!" He responded somewhat vehemently, and then suddenly shoved what remained of the cupcake into his mouth as if to prove his point. Though it was a bit too big for that, and bits of golden fluff and what was left of the indigo frosting were trying to peek out from between his lips. He moved one hand up in front of his mouth, trying to chew and not spit it out everywhere at the same time.

The Capricorn gave another blink, before whatever block that crossed his mind seemed to temporarily lift, and his lips pulled back in a massive smile. Then Gamzee was moving, tucking his legs under his body and pushing himself up into a kneeling position. Then, as casual as if this was something done every day, he leaned forward, slipped his arm around Karkat's miniature hand blockade, and brushed his fingers along the corner of the Cancer's mouth, relaxed grin still in place, "Got your miss going on treats bro," then he pulled away and looked back to the cupcakes, one hand reaching for a whole one, while the other was licked clean by the highblood with an amused hum.

And suddenly everyone else in the room became uncomfortable.

If everyone counted as Karkat only, since Feferi was distracted by something else at the time, her phone ringing, and had turned away from the two.

Karkat just stared hard at Gamzee for a few minutes, eyes narrowed, cheeks puffed out still full of cupcake fluff, and then his cheeks started to go just slightly red, and he shoved the highblood away from him. He struggled with the bread for a bit, swallowing it in big bunches so he could talk clearly. "Don't fucking do that it's gross!"

Confusion filtered over Gamzee's face, though that smile stayed as he plucked a cupcake from the pan, "All up and do what bro?" Indigo eyes kind of just blinked, as if he genuinely didn't know what exactly Karkat was getting so irritated about.

Karkat again just stared, seriously? Seriously? Ugh. "What do you think! It's fucking weird to wipe off my face like that I can do it myself!"

Gamzee's head gave a tilt to one side, brows furrowing a little more as he sort of just blinked at Karkat. "I all up and did that?" At that the indigo blood looked away for a moment, staring at the wall. A small silence surrounding him, before eyes flew wide and he glanced over at Karkat with a honk, "Man, I guess I did. Wonder why I motherfucking did that for." he laughed, that smile still on his lips, though that awkward twist in his gut remained, "Sorry about that bro."

And yes more staring, before Karkat dismissed it as just some stupid faygo induced bullshit, easier to think of it like that than actually consider the fact that Gamzee did it for some other reason and AHAHAHAHAHAHA CHANGING MENTAL TOPICS NOW.

"Just don't do it again, and jesus how much fucking sopor did you pump down your protein shoot?"

A laugh came from the land-dwelling highblood then, "Shit bro, I don't even all up an know. I just... went with the motherfucking flow until I thought all the green was getting sweet reunions with the meat in a mirthful manner." Gamzee's smile stayed, as he took a large bite of his new cupcake, glancing up at Feferi as he did so. When she still seemed busy, the Capricorn's face hardened just a fraction, before he turned back to the red-blood. "How are your nerve throbs up and doing?"

Yeahhh that sounded about right. Karkat just watched for a bit, using his tongue to get some remaining crumbs out from between his teeth, mentally wishing for a tooth pick or something, before Gamzee asked him how he was doing on the pain end. He winced a bit, remembering it now and feeling sore all over. He decided to just give into it.

"I guess I could use some medication"

Gamzee's lips gave a twitch, but he shoved the rest of the cupcake in his mouth and came to a stand, stretching his arms far above his head, bones popping into place as he gave a satisfied honk. Then arms simply dropped and he began to dig through his pockets for the small bottle with said pills. Once found, the male fumbled with the lid for a moment, turning the container this way and that as if he were trying to decipher some great mystery. The Capricorn rarely got sick, and even when he did, he usually just sweated it out. He couldn't even remember the last time he had to take medicine. After a few more minutes, Gamzee did figure it out. Granted he practically ripped the 'child proof' seal off in the process, but he did get it open and handed his bro two of the pills with a grin. "There you go bro, some little numbing motherfuckers." At that, he snapped the lid back on and shuffled through the cabinets, before pouring Karkat a glass of water and setting it on the table for the male.

Karkat just glared at Gamzee as he struggled with them, seriously, he could have just handed them over and shortened the whole process by fucking hours (wasn't really even near that long but Karkat was not known for his patience). But he didn't complain at loud, mainly focused on keeping his pained breathing as even and not sounding as horrible as he was starting to feel. He took the pills without showing any gratitude, trying to make it seem as though he didn't really need them, and downed a drink of water first, dropping one pill to the back of his throat and swallowing, and repeating the action with the second one.

He drank the rest of the water to wash it all down, just in case, and then merely watched for a few minutes as the pills began to take effect. Feferi got off the phone, and was chatting excitedly to Gamzee about something, though it was getting harder and harder to concentrate on what. It just began to blur and buzz together.

"So far, the ascending is going really well! I mean, it's not nearly done yet, I still have to face up against my ancestor when I come of age, and it'll probably be really hard, but I think I'll be ready for it by then, especially with Sol-" The sea-troll went on, but was interrupted by a sudden 'thunk' noise from behind the two of them, and looked past Gamzee over towards Karkat, who had passed out with his head face down on the table.

The Capricorn's smiling face as he listened to Fef's eager chatter, faded just slightly as he jumped and turned to face the source of the sound, eyes furrowing in momentary confusion and near panic, until he remembered. Oh yeah, that medicine was really fucking strong and made his bro pretty damn sleepy. Gamzee turned back to Feferi with his grin back in place, "Sorry Sis, just give me all of a minute," he rumbled, before turning back to a certain knocked out Cancer. It took some maneuvering, but he was able to slip one hand under Karkat's knees then lean him back to tuck the other arm under his own arms and around the red-blood's shoulders.

Man, if the Cancer's was awake, he'd probably be flipping so much shit, and that thought made the Capricorn grin, as he navigated through his nutri-block carrying the male in what humans called 'bridal' style. He gave a quiet 'excuse me' to Feferi, before stepping awkwardly around his horns, making his way to the couch, before carefully placing Karkat on the soft cushions. "Man sis, you should have got some see of the shit they gave him at the healing place, conked him out with star streak speed." Gamzee explained with a small laugh, as he hunted around for a blanket he had up and requested from the human receptionist after the first night Karkat slept on his side of the wall.

Feferi just smiled, watching as Gamzee carried Karkat over towards the couch and set him down, thinking nothing of it, really, but once she realized Karkat was out, her expression grew a little serious.

"Gamzee, I know it's probably not the best time to bring it up, but I need to know what happened to them. I need to know who did this to Sollux and Karkat"

The Capricorn immediately locked up, the change visual as every limb seemed to come to a standstill, and one could not even tell if the male was breathing. Indigo eyes glanced up to meet level tyrian irises. Through the sopor haze, images flashed, memories that were not yet old, or even close to forgotten. A bloodied room, a chase, blood, a scream, so much blood. Silence. Gamzee swallowed and his eyes flickered down to Karkat's sleeping form, quiet, before he draped the blanket he had found over the male. Then, he straightened and his focus returned to Feferi, with a small nod to indicate direction, he stepped through the hole in the wall, to Karkat's room.

Once on the other side, he turned to face the sea-dweller, a smile on his face that didn't reach his eyes, "Alright sis, you educated in any part of the know? Or is all of the happenings wrapped in fog?"

Feferi watched as Gamzee went rigid, but her own stance did not change. Gamzee was terrifying when sober, yes, but she was a highblood even above his status, and she was sure she could protect herself if he ended up going sober, which she hoped he wouldn't. Because Gamzee was her friend and she would hate to have to hurt him. So she was grateful when he merely motioned for her to move into the other room, to keep Karkat from overhearing in case he woke up. She followed.

"I don't know any of what's going on, the doctors claimed they didn't know what the situation was"

Gmazee just sort of stared at her for a few heart beats more, before he averted his eyes, rolling his shoulders once, before moving so that he was leaning up against the wall. "Alright," he took a deep breath, brows furrowing as he tried to concentrate through the sopor haze, "I already got the motherfucker that was getting leads going for Karkat's culling," as he continued to talk, he kept his eyes averted, staring unblinking at the ceiling, "There was a motherfucking note from Sollux a few nights back. Don't got my know if it was actually up and from him though, he wanted to show Karkat something I guess. I'm not schoolfed on what happened next. Next thing I up and remember, was seeing Solbro's body being rolled out of the next door hive structure. Then there was... honk," Gamzee's eyes slipped tightly closed as the male went rigid once more, air coming out too slow, too even. Breathing. "Shit, sorry sis, I don't think I can... put words to all events. I only got some recordings of drops of the full painting. I remember all up and killing one of my motherfucking followers, the lead bitch of the culling." his smile twitched wider, before another shudder passed and he looked down, eyes meeting Feferi's. His look was odd, kind of wild. Confusion, clarity, suppressed rage, pain, all filtering through indigo eyes framed by that smile.

"I got an informer getting some investigation going, she all got me in the know that others were involved. No think pan wanderings on if they were responsible for your red motherfucker though." There was another pause of silence, before, "Sorry sis, I'm in the think that this is partially wrapped around my fault. Some grumption motherfucker is after Karkat, and I entered requests for Sollux's wicked assistance."

Feferi merely stared at Gamzeee, her even gaze never fading, never once giving way to fear or nervousness. Instead, she just stepped forward, extending her arms, and giving Gamzee what she hoped would be a comforting hug.

"I don't blame you Gamzee. I know Sollux and Karkat are very close friends. Even if you hadn't asked, Sollux would have tried to help" She stated simply, her voice very soft and gentle. "I'm going to help you track down those who did this, all I ask is that, if it's possible at all, let me try to question some of them before you have your way with them"

She would track down who had attacked her matesprit and close friend, and she would erect a culling ceremony befitting a traitor to the crown of the Troll race.

Gamzee accepted the hug in silence, after a few heart beats, returning it with an uneven exhale of breath he wasn't aware he had been holding. "Alright sis, If Ive got enough of my mind, I'll up and do that. Woah, hold up and rewind for a sec," Gamzee brows furrowed for a moment, "Shit sis, there was one thing you may not all up and be in mirth about. My word bringer mentioned that one of the involved was a dweller of the sea. If that motherfucking helps at all. Not many of our ocean brothers get walkings on land."

Feferi let go and drew back, nodding. "Thanks, I'll try to find out who they all were, and I'll make sure to tell you anything I find out. But I gotta get back to the hospital now, I don't like leaving Sollux alone. And I can tell that Karkat is safe with you here" She answered, giving him a bright smile. And with that, she turned around, giving him a little wave goodbye, before she absconded out the door.

The highblood watched her leave in silence, staring even after she had long left the room. A deafening silence began to suffocate the living space, and after a few more barely heard breaths, Gamzee returned back to his side of the wall. On silent feet, he navigated back to Karkat's side, sitting cross legged beside the couch, and folding his arms on the seat next to the Cancer's arm. A few more minutes, and his chin lowered to prop itself on the top of one of his wrists.

"Sorry bro, I'm going to end up laying down some actions you wouldn't get approval of."


	71. Why does this shit keep happening

As the last of the cast was cut through and removed from his sore foot and lower leg, letting air reach the skin for the first time in nearly two weeks, Karkat let out a sigh of relief, wriggling his toes and finding some strange comfort in the fact that all of them still worked and felt just fine.

Two fucking weeks since the incident with Tansis, it seemed like a lifetime. Karkat had been strictly forbidden from going to his classes the entire time, since moving around would have been such a hassle and he refused to use a wheelchair. Besides, at least ninety percent of the time he'd been spending passed out, until these last few days anyway, when the pain finally started to fade away and he felt like he could go without almost screaming or crying at every little tiny movement. The last four days had been spent doing college shit. Nepeta had been kind enough to run around to all their classes and find out what they were missing, even going so far as to get notes from other students in those classes, and write down damn near everything that they had missed.

It had really been helpful, even when she brought in Equius and the four of them (Gamzee included, since he had stayed right by Karkat's side damn near every fucking second of these last two weeks, or at east, as far as he knew), had had an incredibly uncomfortable study session. Various times actually. Though sometimes it had just been Karkat with them, it was still helpful.

Karkat never got an answer for what Gamzee was leaving to go do, but he didn't ask very hard. He guess on some level he didn't want to know, because he already had suspicions he didn't want answered. Better to pretend that Gamzee was just going to visit Jarren or Valus or one of his other highblood friends.

The doctor took the cast away, letting Karkat roll his pant leg back down, gratefully stretching out his leg. "You can walk on it now, but try to limit how long you do walk on it, and take breaks often, absolutely no running or anything that might strain the bones or muscles. Still not fully healed yet, but in another two weeks, you'll be all right again" The man in the white coat stated, giving Karkat a most likely customary smile as he towered over the smaller troll. "Also, if at all possible, try not to wear shoes on that foot, socks should be fine, but if you keep it free of constraint it will heal faster, and be more comfortable"

"Whatever, got it, can I fucking leave now?" The aforementioned troll spat back, just wanting to leave the hospital. He had literally been here for five hours now, being forced to go through all kinds of tests and X-rays to make sure everything was healing okay. He had also been forced to go through some psychiatric tests to make sure there was no lasting brain damage that hadn't been discovered yet. They checked his arm too, and his hand, and were worried it may have gotten infected since it was healing so slowly and was slightly inflamed. They had actually had to cut some of the scabs open and let puss drain out of it. And fuck if it felt better after they were done doing that and wrapped his arm back up, giving him a shot of antibiotics to try and fight the infection.

"Yup! That was the last of your checkup! We'll see you again in two weeks, but remember to come back again earlier if your hand starts to look worse" The doctor stated, motioning towards the door, indicating that the troll could leave. Fina-fucking-ly.

He sighed, and slowly moved back up to his feet, pushing himself up off the bed/seat thingy that they always made you sit on when doing this stupid nonsense. Stretcher, if that's what it could be called. He felt just a slight tinge of discomfort on his foot, but not so much as from pain, but more-so just from the odd feeling. He adjusted to having the cast on, so it felt weird to finally be walking around without the fucking thing. At least he didn't need the crutch anymore. He didn't waste much time, heading for the door as quick as was comfortable, both feet bare against the cold hospital floor. He slipped out and down the hall, rolling his eyes as he headed down the hallway and towards the lobby, where he knew two certain highbloods were going to be waiting for him.

Jarren sat in the lobby, elbows propped on his knees, and head cradled in his hands. Gamzee sat cross-legged on the floor in front of him, eyes half-lowered, and loose smile in place as he seemed to be talking to the male about something.

For the past five hours.

Five.

Fucking.

Hours.

The first hour hadn't been so bad. The two had talked about the events of the past two weeks, where Gamzee, sometimes with Jarren or Valus as back-up, had gone highblood hunting. The elegantInformer had proven in the short amount of time that had passed, how well she was able to utilize her gifts to obtain certain information. In particular, narrowing down and discovering who had played a part in Karkat's culling ceremony. It had been tricky at first, it was no secret which troll's on campus were closest to the Grand Highblood, in particular, among the troll population. The first one they found by chance. Valus caught lead of a purple blood attempting to transfer schools. From there, all it had taken was a little poking and prodding, to discover that he had been involved. Both Jarren and Valus had been there for that, though neither had any effort in the initial interrogation. Gamzee was more than happy to handle all of it. Unfortunately his... enthusiasm left little answers, only able to pry two names from the miserable cretins lips before he passed.

The second one had been easy enough to find, the third, a blue blood called Luxia, was much trickier. With him, Gamzee was able to reel in enough sanity to keep him alive and get back in contact with Feferi, and the troll had been handed over to an exceptionally pissed, empress-to-be. At that point, the Capricorn had warned Feferi that there were still a few guilty adversaries left. Though how he knew, he couldn't say. Call it a feeling, an instinct of sorts. It was safe to say though, was that whoever was left was either very good at hiding, or knew exactly how to keep suspicion from falling on themselves.

Moving on, that was how the male's passed the first hour or so. Then they talked of a few other things, before Gamzee went incredibly silent... and fidgety. He kept moving around, apparently finding it difficult to stay in one place. Like an animal placed in a perfectly square cage with nothing to distract him, he just sort of paced around here and there. Normally, Jarren would have simply left to go visit Svesta while they waited. But Angie had asked him not to leave, saying in not-so obvious words, that the clown troll freaked her out. Not that he could really blame her, the few times she'd seen the Capricorn, he had been sober for the most part, and covered in blood. So being the coolest of gentletroll's, he figured he'd help the female out and stay put.

When they reached the four hour point, is when Gamzee had quite suddenly, sat down cross-legged in front of him. Then, after only a brief moment of silence, began to spill some of the craziest and asinine shit the circulatory troll had ever had shoved into his ear holes. There was talk of miracles, how crazy it was electricity worked, about the magic of nerve endings, and how motherfucking sad it must be that the hospital's basement can't see the sky. On, and on, and on, and on. At one point Jarren had stopped responding, sitting in his current position with his face in his hands and eyes closed. Yeah, he and Gamzee had known each other for a while and were considered friends, but even good friends could annoy the ever loving piss out of each other.

So it was understandable that when Karkat finally reappeared, it was the first time Jarren actually felt an incredibly minuscule amount of joy in the Cancer's presence. Immediately he came to a stand and moved, arms crossed over his chest and snarl on his face, "Holy fuckin' human christ, what took ya so long?"

Gamzee in the meantime, was sort of just staring at the chair Jarren had been occupying, head tilted slightly to one side and brows furrowed in confusion.

Of course the fucking hick asshole had to come talk to him first.

Karkat glared at Jarren, not really angry at him, just with the hospital, but it was nice to have something to direct all that pent up frustration at being told what to do and poked and prodded for the last five hours. "Chill the fuck out. I didn't think it was going to be anywhere near this goddamn long either, I just want to leave this damn place already"

In the blink of an eye, Gamzee was there, causing Jarren to flinch slightly at the speed of his appearance and that scowl to deepen. "Fine, whatevuh," then he simply turned and led the way, Gamzee falling into step beside Karkat as casual as all hell.

"Shit bro, I was all kinds of rolling in worry for a few ticks. You up and good?"

Karkat rolled his eyes, walking alongside the indigo blooded troll, paying close attention to his leg, very satisfied that it wasn't hurting. Sure it was just the barest hints sore, but he could manage all too well. "I'm fine, they're a little bit worried about my hand, but they gave me some antibiotics so it should get better. They also said I could lay off the daily doses of pain medication, which is great because I hate spending most of the time passed out" He hated it because of the nightmares. It was a fucking blessing that he had managed not to wake up screaming more than just two times.

There was a slight twitch of Gamzee's lips then, though they portrayed no further emotion than that, nor what had passed through the male's mind as he shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. Don't get him wrong, he was mirthful about his brothers recovery as if the minstrels of the Vast Honk themselves had descended and slammed some wicked elixir with him. But with Karkat no longer getting deep snoozes from numbing medications, it would be harder to get some more hunting going. "Sweet music brother. Only a matter of fucking time passings then, until you can start getting leaderly definitions in check." When they stepped outside, the Capricorn's eyes narrowed just slightly at a small gust of cold wind biting through the air. It was officially winter now, and though they had not received any snow yet, one could definitely feel the nip in the air.

Jarren stalked forward, shoulders tensed and jaws clenched as he approached his truck. They had actually managed to get a decent parking spot, and thankfully the walk wasn't far. Though the length of the circulatory troll's stride, brought him in the vehicle first, starting it up with a growl and shutting with an impatient glare at the other two males. He had kind of been in the middle of something, before Gamzee informed him that they needed a ride. Normally the male would have just let the Capricorn drive, but given the recent... events they had been partaking in, he decided to take the wheel. For Warbeast's safety.

Gamzee navigated to the bed of the truck, bare hands gripping at the cold tailgate and pulling himself up, "Get some wandering on what you want to ingest when we get back best friend."

Karkat staggered slightly as he walked over towards the truck, getting on the passenger's side and slipping into the front seat there, though just before he shut the door, he stood up, sticking out his hand towards the taller troll and waving it, indicating he had heard and was thinking about it. And then sat down and shut the door, waiting for the damn ride to start.

Jarren waited until the truck shifted as Gamzee jumped into it's bed, tapping his fingers impatiently as the male's crazy head of hair vanished as he laid down in the back of the truck. If he cared, he would have asked why the fuck he wanted to ride outside of the dodge in the cold, instead of it's backseat. But as per usual, he didn't, just summarizing it up as one of the weird ass things the juggalo did, before shifting his beloved vehicle into drive and roaring out of the parking lot.

Once on the road, the male's discomfort became slightly more apparent. Because hell, this wasn't awkward or weird at all. "So..." he shifted, adjusting his grip on the steering wheel, "Your actually capable o' thought now?"

"Well considering I am not fucking drooling all over my goddamn self, yes" Karkat spat back simply, one cheek puffing up with air in irritation at the question as blackened eyes shifted in a very unamused manner towards Jarren, before focusing back on the road.

"Tat's uh shame, you were more fuckin' tolerable as uh vegetable," the driver growled in response, as he made a turn, eyes narrowing ever so slightly as he nudged at the gas and the giant battering ram he called his truck rumbled forward.

Karkat snarled at Jarren, but didn't say anything, merely sat there in silence for a while...

Until an idea came into his brain, and a somewhat evil smirk ran itself over his face. He wiped it off instantly, mentally debating the random urge with himself, before he found himself moving. He shifted his position, stretching his legs out in front of him, and lifting them up, letting them rest on the dashboard, that hint of a smirk never once leaving his face.

Jarren didn't notice immediately as he changed lanes to skirt around a boxy looking car going to slow for the male's taste. There was a brief pause , before he noticed Karkat's shape was different out of the corner of his eye. A glance over, and the circulatory highblood released an angry snarl, "Oy! GET YER MUTANT BLOODED CLOGGUHS OFF MY DASH!"

"oh no, my dirty, deformed feet are touching the precious dash of your truck, whatever shall I do?"

"GOD DAMMIT! AH'LL CHOP OFF YER FUCKIN LIMBS YOU INSUFFERABLE BULGE SUCKIN-" at that point, Jarren lurched to one side as if he intended to physically shove Karkat's feet from their perched location.

Okay, if Karkat had known that Jarren would blow his top enough to stop paying attention to the road, he might not have goaded the other male into flipping his shit in payback for all the damn insults. Karkat jerked his feet back, holding them close to his chest and pointing out the front window.

"STOP LIGHT YOU FRISBEE TOTING FUCKHEAD. LOOK AT THE GODDAMN ROAD"

"Wha-" Jarren's head whipped around, dark violet eyes just registering the glaring red and the stopped vehicle they were rapidly approach, "SHIT!" the reaction was instantaneous, the male jerked the steering wheel to one side and slammed on the break, the tires locking up and skidding across the pavement, and the large truck lurching to one side. There was a rough bump as the front of the truck popped up on a curve before grinding to a stop, coming up partially to one side of the parked car they would have slammed into.

From the trucks bed, one of Gamzee's hands appeared, gripping hold of the roll cage, before pulling himself up, wobbling from side to side backwards somewhat. Woah, what had all up and happened?

This was why you should wear a seat belt. Karkat felt himself slide sideways off his seat, already unstable thanks to his feet being curled up to his chest, and still not very used to moving around yet. The truck hit the curve, and Karkat closed his eyes as he was bounced around the fucking truck, fully expecting to end up going through the damn window thanks to his own stupidity.

What he did not expect was for his face to land on something that was softer than pavement or glass, but harder than the cushioned seats.

Jarren's heart was beating rapidly in his chest as the sudden adrenaline that flowed from his veins, throbbed uncomfortably, and his eyes blurred back into focus. He was a little dizzy, the side of his head had hit the window rather harshly, and it took him a moment to realize two things. One, there was no smoke or broken glass, so his truck wasn't hurt too badly, the second- Jarren's cheeks flared with a dark violet hue, pupils contracting to dots.

"GET YOUR FACE OFF MY BULGE!"

Karkat's coherent thought was, 'Oh hey, I'm not dead'.

The second, after hearing Jarren scream and realizing where exactly he had landed, was 'I'd rather be dead'. He jerked up so fucking fast it seemed damn near impossible, coal black eyes open as wide as possible, with the barest hints of red crossing over his cheeks. And then he shot back, up against the opposite door.

An incredibly awkward silence fell between them.

Before Gamzee knocked on the window twice, causing Jarren to jump and whirl around, before he furrowed his brows. The Capricorn fore-head and nose pressed against the glass in what could have been comical, if he wasn't smearing some of this face paint on the glass. "Everything all in the right?" came the highbloods muffled voice. Jarren threw a thumbs-up over his shoulder, whipped back around, and immediately put his truck in reverse, silent. Because holy shit, he was not going to say anything because that incredibly corny as hell, sitcom like fiasco had not just happened. Backing up, he slipped Warbeast back into drive, and continued to drive, albeit, a bit more tame than before.

Yeah Karkat pretty much stayed utterly fucking still after that. He just sat down in his seat, utterly rigid and staring out the window, begging for time to speed up and get them to the university so he could abscond the fuck out of there.

And Jarren seemed more than happy to keep his own trap shut. It was like a silent agreement passed between them, as not a single word was said the rest of the ride.

Gamzee on the other hand, was a little confused as he laid back down in the bed of the truck, staring up at the gray sky filled with chubby clouds floating lazily on their way. Man, he just up and got some assumption that Jarren and Karkat were getting disagreements again. But both of them seemed alright, if not a bit flustered for some reason, and the rest of the ride went without incident. So as they arrived back at the University, Gamzee jumped out of the bed of the truck before it came to a full stop, stumbling slightly to the side as he lost balance, but otherwise straightening up fine and dandy, as he turned back towards Karkat and Jarren.

Just before Karkat nearly ripped the seat belt off him and opened the door, he turned to glare at Jarren, snarling and showing most of his pointed teeth. "Never... fucking... happened" he stated simply, and then slipped out of the truck as fast as he could, slamming the door shut behind him.

From within the vehicle, Jarren grunted, "Damn right it didn't," then he to exited his truck, and stomped off in the opposite direction towards the gym.

Gamzee blinked between the two male's, before shrugging and coming up beside Karkat with a happy hum, falling into a lazy stride to keep up with the Cancer's shorter ones. "Man, what was all that about?"


	72. The First Snowfall

This chapter was originally meant to be much, much longer, but since it's been so fucking long since we've updated, I decided fuck it, we'll just split it in half here and throw the first part up here to let you guys know we're still alive.

I cannot even begin to apologize for the slowness as of late, the only excuse I can find is that I've been really distracted by homework lately (as I mentioned in the tumblr update, I'm trying to get my grades up because they suck shit) and Aussie recently got her schedule changed at work, as well as getting dragged away by her family more often than she used to. So we have had less time to work on the chapters.

_-Eren S._

* * *

><p>Another few days passed by most of the troll's with little incident, and just like the two weeks prior, Gamzee hardly left Karkat's side. Whenever he did, he made sure that there was someone with the Cancer, or in the very least, watching the dorms. With the male more alert, it had been more difficult to search for the remaining trolls involved in the red blood's culling ceremony, though Valus assured him that she was spending ever bit of her free time searching. She called it good practice for her future career, or something.<p>

Wednesday morning, Gamzee had left rather early to go get Karkat's painting from the arts building. It wasn't quite done yet, but he wanted to bring it over so he could work on it off and on during their free time. Despite the cold chill in the air, he had left the dorm in nothing but a flimsy coat, saying he didn't really feel the differences in weather when he informed the Cancer that he would be returning shortly. Indigo eyes had stayed trained on the floor in front of him as he walked through the dorm, tracing the patterns in the carpet and dodging other students without so much as glancing at them. There was a hum on his lips as he turned and opened the front doors, only to be met with a blinding light.

The Capricorn froze, eyes going wide as pupils contracted and adjusted, to witness an incredible sight.

Twenty minutes passed, and while Gamzee was gone, Karkat had decided to occupy the moment of quiet with some much needed study time. He sat on the couch, skimming over the words of the book in silence, the only sound of movement being the occasional soft foot steps down the hall.

Until what could have been the muffled sounds of someone falling against the wall, and the irritated shouts of students, echoed towards the impromptu combined rooms of seven and eight. Only a few heartbeats more would pass, before the door to eight was struggled open and Gamzee slipped in, eyes wide with excitement and juggling a large canvas, easel, and a bag being held via his mouth, with some extra paint brushes and a small palette among it's contents .

Really, it was rather humorous watching him as he stumbled in, damn near tripping on more than a few of his horns as he made his way to the horn pile, performing a sort of balancing act as he set up the easel, then propped the canvas safely onto the wooden stand. Once his hands were free, the Capricorn took a few careful steps back, making sure the picture stayed still, before he whirled around to face the Cancer, mouth opening to drop the bag and reveal this massive grin, as both arms extended outward in his excitement, "KARKAT! A MOTHERFUCKING MIRACLE IS MAKING LOVE TO THE EARTH!"

Gamzee jumped over the back of the couch, using the seat to brace his feet and leap again, giving a twist so that he was in front of Karkat, all but hopping in place as if all of his excitement was about to burst from his chest. "Man, it's one the most beautiful motherfucking things I've ever seen! And the shit's everywhere! Like, getting hugs and snugs with everything! Honk honk! Bro! You've gotta all see this!"

Karkat just stared at Gamzee as he moved around the room before jumping on the back of the couch, a somewhat blank, bored, and mildly confused expression on his face as he just stared, blinking.

Yeah he had no idea what the fuck Gamzee was talking about, but considering who it was, it was probably fucking stupid. He rolled his eyes, shutting the book after glancing down to memorize the page quickly, and then turned back towards the indigo blood. "What the fuck are you going on about?"

Gamzee rocked on the balls of his feet as he suddenly took off from one side of the room, to the other. Not exactly looking for something, but it more as if he couldn't sit still. He whirled back around to face Karkat, massive grin still in place, "The clouds have all motherfucking fallen from the sky brother! It's the craziest shit I've ever witnessed. Man, I've all heard about the blessing the air gives, but I never got my pan around how fucking lovely it all would be! Are you in the know about this? Mirthful hell, brother, I'm getting hefty vascular pumps all through my motherfucking veins!" And then he went back towards his door propping it open and rocking on his heels with a laugh as he seemed to be staring out the window.

"Man, are you all getting see what I'm seeing, cuz it wouldn't be all the first time my mind got wicked teasers tickling at my vision."

Personally, Karkat had lived in an area where it was cold most of the time, and snowed a lot, it wasn't really that big of a surprise to him, or one at all really. But still, the way Gamzee got all excited over it was just a tad bit infectious. It was kinda interesting though, the idea of this being his first see on snow.

"Yeah I can see it, looks like it snowed a fucking lot"

In a way it made sense. Gamzee's hive was basically located on the beach, where the weather was practically always warm and the sea salt wind kept most of the more severe cold from reaching him. So what little snow he had seen in his life, consisted mostly of just a small flurry that never stuck to the ground, and may as well have been a light mist. Gamzee gave a small, excited laugh at Karkat's confirmation that this wasn't in his head. "Shit, I want to get some introductions going! Try some of the wicked activities I've seen on the flicker box! Karkat, will you all tag-a-long with me brother? I don't wanna experience these blessings without my best motherfucker there!"

Karkat frowned, chewing on his lower lip as he thought about it. "I don't know, I have a lot of this stupid shit to catch up on..."

Gamzee began to do this odd sort of, small bouncing shake where he stood, as if he was holding himself back from taking off right then and there, "Shit, come on brother! Just for all of a couple ticks and tocks! Then we can motherfucking come back, and I'll be all, fucking shhhh, only quiet times now so Karbrother can study."

He thought about it for a moment, frowning, before rolling his eyes, and scoffing. "Fine, I'll go out in the fucking snow with you" He stated simply, but then eyed the clothing that covered Gamzee, "but both of us are wearing WINTER clothes rather than this shit"

Only a brief flash of disappointment crossed the male's face, but it quickly vanished, because even though he had to change, Karkat was still going to come with him, "Alright brother, we got ourselves a motherfucking compromise!" Gamzee jogged over to his dresser, not taking his time as he shuffled through his clothes, looking for something that would be considered winter wear. After a moment of searching, he managed to find that white, long sleeved sweater of his with the three indigo stripes at the bottom. The on Karkat had worn some time ago. A few more minutes of hunting around, gave him a thick-clothed black hoodie, with indigo insides and a particular looking picture on the back and his sign on the front. The picture, nearly looked like that of a face twisted in rage, though it was somewhat difficult to tell with the curling designs. If you were to ask the Capricorn, he would tell you he 'all thought it looked like a flutter bug'.

Anyway, after finding the hoodie, he also pulled out a spotted scarf next, and satisfied, slipped off the flimsy jacket he had on, followed by the T-shirt. He would just keep his jeans on and change into his bike boots instead of sneakers. So it was at that he slipped his clothes on rather quickly, fumbling with the sweater a little as he caught it on the tip of one of his horns.

And while Gamzee was off doing whatever, hopefully getting fucking dressed because Karkat went into his own room and... well... he was already wearing a long sleeved shirt and pants, so all he really had to go was slip on some socks, boots, and a grey winter coat with red and black designs on the back. He also made sure to grab a pair of thin gloves to keep his hands somewhat safe from the cold, and pulled a hat on while he was at it, not having any of the issues Gamzee was having. Since his own horns were a lot shorter and close to his head, he just slipped the hat on right over them.

He walked over towards the door then, not even bothering to try and get through the hole in the wall with this fucking coat and boots on, and waiting for the highblood.

As if on a thought, Gamzee appeared then, hopping through the hole and struggling only for a few moments to regain his balance, before coming up to Karkat's side with that same massive smile. He hopped from one foot to the other. He didn't have any gloves on, but the male didn't really have a pair... or at least, he didn't think he did. Every time he would buy that particular article of clothing, they would always find a way to disappear again. So after a while he simply stopped getting them.

"Alright brother, got on some warm bringing duds. Honk"

Karkat, once again, rolled his charcoal colored eyes, before motioning for Gamzee to follow him as he headed down the hallway. "Just make sure that you don't get yourself totally fucking soaked. The last thing we need is for you to get a fever from the fucking cold"

"Honk honk!"

The taller male fell into step beside Karkat, eyes flickering out the window as they walked, a slight shine coming from the layers of pristine white that covered the Earth, from the brief parting of clouds and the streaks of sunlight just breaking through. For the short walk, Gamzee stayed quiet, those his eyes kept flickering around and he would occasionally give this seemingly rand flinch as if he was thinking of moving but suddenly thought better of it. However, as soon as the doors parted and the chilled air whipped upwards in greeting, Gamzee was gone. He didn't go far, only going over to a waist high snow drift, running bare fingers testing through the cold and almost fluffy substance. Then, with a grin, he fell face first into the pile, and practically vanished amongst the top layer of fresh powder.

Karkat just stared as the moron jumped into a fucking waist highsnow drift (Jesus that would almost reach up to his own chest, it must have been a fucking blizzard last night or something). His expression never wavering, he walked over to where the snow drift started, letting his boots sink a few inches into the snow before leaning down and scooping up a handful of the fluffy substance. It wasn't good snow for packing together, too fluffy and not slushy enough, but he managed.

And with that, he tossed the poorly made snowball about where he saw Gamzee's head dissappear. "You dipshit I said not to get too covered in snow you don't even have gloves on!"

"Honk!"

From the snow drift, Gamzee's head appeared. Well, to be more literal, his horns appeared first, then his head. He just sort, of popped back up, all smiles with flecks snow clinging to his hair and what little of his scarf and coat could be seen. With a particular large dusting of snow perched on the top of his head. For a moment, the Capricorn just sort of stared at the Cancer, and one might wonder if he had even heard the male. Then a blink, he dissapeared into the snow drift again... except he really didn't. Because underneath the powder like layer of snow, you could see a slow mound moving, and sticking out of the white substance, two tall orange and gold horns.

Whenever he was close enough to Karkat's general location, he popped out again with that same grin, giving his head a shake to free the white fluff from his hair. Only then did he give a slight shiver, as a few drop of snow, slid down his horns to the sensitive base.

"Sorry brother, it was just all, getting whispering callings to me, you know? And I thought, shit, why not slam some introductions with white brethren." the indigo blood smiled at that, "Besides, I don't got not need for hand covers. Those motherfuckers are all... designated to keep warmth in right? Don't got no feel for cold bro, in my grabbers." He suddenly stood up then, doing a hopping dance out of the snow drift and laughing whenever the substance stuck to him, falling as he jumped around in a light flurry before he came to a stop beside Karkat. "Now I'm situated in curiousity about recent happenings. How did you bunch up white substance and all get some cannon launching going?"

"I don't think it's a good thing your hands are numb" Karkat pointed out after watching those horns swim through the snow for a few seconds, and then suddenly pop out, and it was a miracle that he didn't get fucking covered in snow. Honestly he was surprised the cold didn't even bother Gamzee when the snow covered his horns, he knew he couldn't personally stand the feeling. And not because it hurt, it just felt weird as all hell.

"What, you mean a snowball?" He asked, raising one eyebrow before leaning down, and scooping up another handful of snow. "You just pack it into a ball, granted this snow kinda fucking sucks, too fluffy for good snowballs"

Gamzee gave a nod, simply brushing off the comment about it probably not being a good thing his hands were numb. The Capricorn had stopped worrying about such things a long time ago, after all, there were other nerve tinglers in his body that didn't function quite right. Like, for instance, the fact he could rarely feel physical pain anymore.

The highblood tilted his head to one side, attentive as Karkat scooped up a handful of snow, and after only a momentary pause, mimicked the action. Despite the snow being 'too fluffy', the male tried his best to pack it in, curling his fingers around the substance. He couldn't feel the cold, but he could register the substance mushing together slightly, could feel it's presence in his hand as it just barely compacted. He brought his other hand up to try and form it, "Ooooh, I all get it bro. It's like, rolling some motherfucking slime circles... except," he parted his hands, having managed to condense that handfull of fluff, into a rather tiny ball, "These fluffy brothers like to liquidate in against a fuckers outer layer." he gave a laugh at that, tossing his little ball into the snow dirft with a grin.

"What kind of sky descendant makes for good balls of snow?"

"Mostly slushy snow, it's easier to pack together, fluffy snow just kinda falls apart unless you pack it in real good" Karkat explained simply. He picked up some more snow with his second hand, packing both handfuls into a tight ball, going back down often for more until he had a decently sized sphere of snow in his hands. "Like this"

The indigo blood was oddly attentive as he watched Karkat pack the snow ball together. It was like he was studying some incredibly complex thing and only when the Cancer was finished, did he try again. Crouching down and just scooping up the snow as he went, packing it together as Karkat's had, until a good sized ball sat in his hands. "Man, that's motherfucking crazy how it all, clings together just by giving tight squeezes!" Gamzee gave a honk as he rolled the white sphere between his hands, angling it so the sparkling white specs caught the sunlight just right.

It was as he was doing this, that movement caught the corner of his gaze, and he glanced up. To see a certain circulatory troll making his way away from them, back turned. His usual white coat, was replaced by a thick winter one, with fur at the collar and a beanie slipped over his head and under his horns. "Heh, looks like a motherfucker is directing himself for strife practices."

Karkat followed Gamzee's gaze, spotting Jarren, and before he could even help himself, a wicked grin actually grew across his face.

It was like one of those stupid things you did on impulse that you never really thought about, but one second, Karkat had the damn snowball in his hand, the next, it was flying through the air, sailing towards the back of the circulatory troll's head.


End file.
